The Big Wicked Sequel
by Unolai
Summary: A.k.a.: Return Of The Chocoholic. Our favourite borderline-insane Witch returns and she's taking crazy to a whole new level. Rated for safety and future chapters.
1. Prologue

**Prince Elmo:** Yes, ladies! At the request of many of my readers, I am writing a sequel. You can stop looking surprised now.

I'm currently working hard on a proper title and a proper plot, seeing as I haven't even thought of either of them. So far, this is all I got. And I've decided to post this already, just to annoy the snot out of you! It could take a while before I start posting the rest.

Kekekekeke.

My heart goes out to **JC, my lovely BETA**. Who has stood by me through Something Wicked and has enough patience to stand by me through the sequel. She's my muse, my advisor and she's a genius when it comes to storylines. (blows her a kiss) You know I love you.

Oh, and Hiei will act Emo in this one. Beware. Don't get sucked in, for there is no coming back.

**Hiei:** (walks in, shirtless, with letters painted onto his chest) **Prince Elmo does not own Yu Yu Hakusho.**

* * *

Even though it's already 5 years since her death, you never truly lost her until now.

Her body may have perished, but her soul lived on in a new life. It was comforting to know that the fire she possessed didn't die out completely. That her spirit didn't get buried with her. Despite knowing that you could never meet her again, you were at peace with it. You were content with just watching her.

And in one short moment, it had all come undone.

You were tired after a day's work and hoped you could get some peace of mind by watching her sleep. It seemed like humans flocked towards the Demon World these days as if someone was handing out free donuts. The rain made your cloak heavy. Combined with your exhaustion, it made it difficult for you to keep your balance on the branch just outside her window.

You decided that as long as you didn't wake her, it would be safe to come inside for shelter. You had always hated rain. And she had always loved it.

The little girl had a small smile on her face, as you softly pushed her window open. It made no noise as it gave way under your hand. Her soft breathing continued. Your aura flared around you, making short work of the water in your clothes. The warmth in her room quickly seeped into your bones. You stood beside her bed.

You had never been this close to her, you only watched her from afar. Your hand reached for her unrecognisable face, before clenching into a fist and falling back to your side. She neither looked nor _felt_ anything like the girl you had cared about. (Author: _Felt_ as in vibes. Not _felt_ as in Hiei-the-pedophile-has-come-to-harass-you.)

You could just barely keep yourself from snorting out loud. _Cared?_ Who were you trying to fool here? It was love and you know it.

You were just too stubborn to realise it until it was too late.

She, on the other hand, knew exactly what she had wanted. That's why she kept coming back to you, no matter how much you had hurt her. Why she didn't cower in fear as you threatened her like most women do. Not to mention the way she had unintentionally flirted with you.

"_Has anyone ever told you that you have really pretty eyebrows?"_

A small smile curved your mouth upwards as you got lost in the memories of her lame jokes and borderline insane behavior. If only you had a second chance, like she does...

A soft moan had snapped you out of your memories. The little girl tossed and turned in her sleep, a nightmare invading her pleasant dreams. Her magical aura, much weaker than yours, flared around her restless body in irregular patterns. No, this was not a nightmare, but a memory from her previous life. The life she had lived with you. For a short while at least.

You sat down on her soft bed and reached for her. The soft flesh of her cheek resting easily in your palm. But she jerked her face away with a whimper, clutching her covers close to her. You took your bandana from your forehead, determined not to let bad memories haunt her peaceful sleep.

Her young mind was no match for your Jagan eye. But as soon as you looked inside her mind, you lurched away from her as if she had burned you.

"She...She is not..."

Soft violet eyes had snapped open with a sharp gasp and you realised that you had spoken out loud. Those eyes made contact with yours.

Before she could even draw a breath to scream, you bolted out of the window by pure reflex. Blind in your haste, you went to the only place you could think of.

* * *

And here you stand, in an ancient temple that lost its strong, magical protection about 5 years ago. The artifact that had needed that protection has been returned here, but it lost its appeal to potential thieves.

That precious artifact is the Eye of Corax. A terrifying weapon with the power to resurrect and control the undead. That was before she had sacrificed her life to seal the magic within the Eye. Now it's just a dull, grey gem with a piece of string attached to it, lying on an abandoned altar. As powerless as it is ugly. You scowl at it in disgust.

Her life for a piece of jewelry. It hardly seemed real.

You draw a deep breath, your hand clutching the handle of your katana. And now, her soul is missing too. There is nothing you, Botan or Koenma can do about it. Her soul is not the responsibility of the Spirit World.

The meager consolation you had drawn from knowing that she lived on has vanished.

You're shaking with rage, standing in front of the altar. In front of the reason your heart aches with a pain you refuse to accept. If only she hadn't been so foolish! You would've figured out a way to defeat Saki eventually, but she just had to be the big hero and save the day.

Her death was a tragedy. Yours would've been a blessing. So why? Why did she pass away.

"Why did she leave me?", You finally whisper the thought that has been on the edge of your mind ever since her death.

A scream that closely resembles a battle cry is torn from your throat. In one fluid motion, you rip your katana from its sheath and lunge for the tangible nightmare that cost you a loved one.

Just a blink of an eye later, you're on your knees, next to the altar. The metallic clang of your katana hitting the stone floor echoes through the large room, as it slips from your nerveless fingers. It barely disguises the delicate sound the Eye of Corax makes, as half of it bounces off the floor a few yards away from you.

For a moment, you can only hear your own ragged breathing.

Then, another scream is torn from your throat and you slam your fist into the side of the altar. You stubbornly ignore the sickening crunch of bones breaking.

Another gem hits the ground with a barely-noticed sound. It rolls over to its grey friend, who lays on the floor in pieces.

* * *

Miles away, lungs that haven't been used in years draw in a long breath. Numb limbs begin to spasm and a distant mind struggles to regain consiousness. Unusually coloured eyes flutter open to meet total darkness, only to be squeezed shut again. With a soft groan, her stiff back arches.

"Ow...shit..."

Even to her own ears, her voice sounds like she's been to hell and back. Reaching up to rub her eyes, her hand comes in contact with soft fabric.

"What the...?"

Suddenly wide awake, the young woman fingers the cloth and follows it around with her hands. It completely surrounds her. Then she notices that she is lying quite comfortably on a pillow. It confuses her.

She draws in a much needed deep breath. The air is heavy with an earthy tang. Then her eyes snap open in darkness and realisation hits her like a ton of bricks.

Jaiden Sterling has been buried alive.

* * *

**Prince Elmo: **This is it so far. Don't worry, it will all be explained. Let me know what you think.


	2. Crawling

**Prince Elmo:** Hello, my cuddly cauliflowers! I just wanted to let you guys know that **THIS FIC IS NOT DEAD.** And I do so by posting the second chapter sooner than I intended.

You see, I wanted to write the entire story before starting to post, but it's taken a lot longer than I expected. I must kill that plotbunny...

Anyway, **this chapter is unBETA'd!!** Deal with it...

**Kuwabara: Prince Elmo still doesn't own Yu Yu Hakusho. Jaiden Sterling is hers, don't use without permission.**

* * *

"_I'm buried alive."_

This is your last coherent thought, before your mind shuts down in panic. With a hoarse scream, you claw wildly at the fabric in front of you. Your legs kicking frantically, hitting the wood with dull thuds. Hot tears gather in your eyes before you can stop them and you feel them slide over your temple and into your hair.

Then, the fabric under your nails rips apart and your fingers come into contact with wood. In your blind panic, you hardly take notice. With long, drawn-out screams, you keep attacking your coffin with everything you got. The stiffness in your limbs is long forgotten.

Sharp pain pulls you out of your panic. The wood had splintered under your hands and gathered under your fingernails. You feel hot liquid dripping onto your face when you hold them up, as if you can see your hands in the dark. A small weight settles on your chest and slowly increases. You reach for it.

Sand.

With a leap of your heart, you realise that you don't have to die here! You become strangely calm, as if a warm blanket is suddenly wrapped around you.

"_Hmm, what would MacGyver do? He'd probably wipe out a piece of string and a paperclip to build a bulldozer. But I seem to have neither...Damn!" _

Ignoring the pain in your fingers, you carefully pull at the opening. The wood gives way with a dull crack and another weight is quickly settling on your knees. Figuring that you have nothing to loose, you take a deep breath in and literally dive upwards into the mass of sand above you.

Sand enters your nose and ears as you claw your way through it. When you feel the sand around you shift, you know that your ruined coffin has given out under the weight. With the knowledge that you can't go back, you struggle forth with renewed strength.

For an eternity, you do nothing more than swipe at the sand above you. Holding your breath begins to take its toll. A numb feeling comes over your arms and legs and the strength that you had found quickly leaves you again. The urge to open your mouth and breath is almost too big to ignore. Your head is swimming and your chest begins to ache.

Your arm suddenly shoots upwards, no longer restrained by sand. With energy you didn't this you still had, you push your other arms forward too. Your numb fingers wrap around something solid and you pull with all your might.

Then, with a harsh gasp, your lungs draw in much needed air and the sun warms your cold, clammy face. With your lower body still buried in the sand, you lie there and catch your breath. Your cheek is pressed against the cold something you had used to pull yourself up. The sun on your back is just about the best thing you ever felt and you just lie there for what seems like ages.

"_Ha! I bet MacGyver can't dig his way out of his own grave! Especially not without paperclips around."_

Squinting at the sudden bright environment, you carefully open your eyes. The grass, which is the most beautiful shade of green you've ever laid eyes on, is softly rippling in the breeze. The yellow in the bouquet of Spanish Daisies next to you, seems the most vibrant ever created. After pulling yourself out of the grave, you roll on your back and look at the sky.

You just can't get over how gorgeous everything looks. All colours look like they've been hand-picked by the Gods and they've been used to carefully paint the world to perfection. The blue in the sky is so sharp and demanding, yet so soft and gentle. Even the blood on your hands is beautiful. The red colour is just so perfect.

Every sight, every sound, it's all so clear and pure. Everything is whole and complete. It feels like nothing is missing. It's like you're really experiencing the world for the first time.

It kind of reminds you of being stoned.

When you finally look at your surroundings, you're violently startled out of your dream-like state. Even though you had been buried alive, you're not prepared to see your own gravestone.

But still, there it is. Right in front of you.

A small statue of an angel, carved out of white marble, surrounded by many gorgeous flowers. Its little arms outstretched as if protecting the one who was buried. In the sunlight, it seems to give off a faint glow. A small smile plays on your face: it's obvious who chose it.

On the base where the angel stands, your name has been carved into the stone with elegant letters. You trace your name with a finger. A feeling of sorrow washing over you.

"_How did this happen? How could this happen? Why haven't I been reborn?__ I wish I had voices in my head who could answer these questions..."_

A new wave of tears wells up in your eyes, but you stubbornly force it down. You're not about to mourn your own death. Your eyes slid out of focus as you concentrate on your name. As if you expect your name to disappear, only to be replaced with all the answers. You search your memory, but you don't remember much.

You close your eyes and sigh.

"_Where to now...?"_

Just when you're about to stand up, you notice another sentence on your gravestone. It's below the dates of birth and death and obscured by some yellow roses. With a trembling hand, you brush the flowers away.

'Because she saved the one she loved.'

Like a tidal wave, all that's happened crashes over you. The memories are suffocating and you gasp for air. The feelings of joy, grief, love and hurt are making your head spin. Tears for the sake of those you left behind spill over your cheeks.

"_Hiei."_

* * *

_("Hiei.")_

Still crouched next to the altar, his head snaps up at the familiar voice. His breath hitches in his throat. Even though it has been five years, he would still recognise that voice anywhere. With a jolt of hope, he mentally reaches out to her.

But then he realises how foolish this would be. It can't be her. It must be a cruel trick to lure him into a trap. Hn, he's not going to let them catch his so easily.

He picks up his katana and puts it back in its sheath. The sound clearly echoing through the temple. Whoever tried to trick him is going to pay dearly for this deceit.

* * *

At the same moment, in another world, a woman gazes upon the familiar statue. Her face is lined with time and her once-blonde hair is now more grey than blonde. The statue she's looking at has been standing there as long as she can remember. It seems like it has always been standing there.

When she was younger, she asked many times who the man was, but nobody seemed to know the answer. She looks at the face of the man. Whoever he was, he sure was handsome!

Perfectly chiseled cheekbones, a fine nose, lips curved into a handsome grin and beautiful almond-shaped eyes. Even after all these years, the statue looked as if it had been carved yesterday. It certainly did him justice. His short hair seemed to shine, despite the stone it had been carved out. It hung over his eyes in a way that she would've called sexy, were she fifty years younger.

As a young girl, she had often fantasized about him. About his tall figure, his broad shoulders, the intensity in his eyes...

The old woman is startled out of her thoughts by a violent change in energy around her. The peaceful atmosphere turns into one of foreboding and danger. Dark energy seems to seep through the earth, making her breath catch in her throat and a vice constrict around her heart.

The energy feels dark and consuming. Like a disease it spreads into her old body and into her surroundings. It's evil in its purest form. She's never felt anything like it. The energy seems to drain her of all strength and she falls to her weakened knees.

Even if she was in the right mind to call for help, she wouldn't be able to do it.

The dark, evil energy centers around the statue, before concentrating inside it. It builds and it builds. Gaining more strength right in front of her eyes. A startled scream escapes her as the statue breaks in half with a loud crack.

Within a second, her lifeless body falls to the ground, empty blue eyes staring into nothing.

* * *

**Prince Elmo:** Dun, dun duuuuun dramatic echo! Those who are interested in keeping track of my progress: Go to my profile and look at the story-stats for Something Wicked 2. You can see at what chapter I'm at there.

**Jaiden:** This chapter was brought to you by the letter Q. It apologises. Weeeeeeeeee!


	3. Mistaken Identity

**Prince Elmo:** It liiiiiiiiiiiiiiives!! And by 'it', I mean me! 8D I figured that my writingspeed is way to low to keep you people waiting and I've hit a pretty big snag about 3 months ago. I swear I'm working on it! So here's another unBETA'd chapter to keep you happy.

**Kurama:** **Unolai does NOT own Yu Yu Hakusho and does NOT make any money off this fict.**

* * *

With the last bit of your strength, you push the heavy wooden door open. A suffocating warmth, laced with the scent of alcohol and sweat, immediately spills over you, but you welcome it like an old friend. You had left the sunny graveyard behind, only to wind up in a dark, cold city. The jeans and t-shirt you're wearing providing little protection from the sudden chill when the sun went down. _"Who dresses a corpse in a pair of jeans anyway??" _As far as you could tell, everybody here was either demon, apparition or something in between.

Stepping into the crowded bar, many eyes turn to your small, shivering figure. You take no real note. After all, one is bound to attract attention when one is covered in dirt and blood. You make no eye contact as you move over to the bar, with your arms wrapped tightly around yourself.

A tall demon with cat-like ears offers you his barstool, muttering that you need it more than him. With a small smile of gratitude, you sit down and cradle your heavy head in your hands. Your own short hair brushing the back of your hands. For a long moment, you savour the feeling of warmth and the sounds around you.

"_Today was not a fun day."_

"So, care to talk about it?"

The words are more purred than spoken. You turn wide-eyed towards the source of the deep, hypnotising voice. A handsome pair of vibrant eyes meet your surprised stare. It's Mr. Gallant, who offered you a seat.

"It looks like you've been through a bad day." He explains, cat-ears twitching slightly from the perch of his blood-red hair. His eyes are a shade of gold you've never seen before. Instead of pity, you see compassion in them and friendliness. You decide that he can't be that bad.

"Nothing can be worse than this kind of bad." Your breath leaves you in a sigh.

His warm, golden eyes lit up. With a cocky grin on his face, he grabs the guy next to you by the scruff and flings him over the shoulder to the other side of the bar. Eyes still on you, he sits down and grabs the drink the other demon had just ordered.

"I bet my day was even worse."

You look down at your hands. Your long nails are broken and bloody. The skin on your knuckles has been scraped away, the wounds stinging horribly under the dirt. You're sure that your face is so dirty, that no one can see just how pale you are now. Your black with violet-streaked hair must be in the same state of mess as the rest of you.

You turn to your cocky challenger.

"No, it wasn't. Why don't we safe your fragile ego the devastating blow and forget about it?"

After a small, amused chuckle, he turns to the bartender, who is a young woman with the same hypnotising, golden eyes as his. After a few words in a language you can't understand, the woman beckons you to follow her. "Her name is Joëlle. She doesn't speak English, but she'll take you to a bathroom. Go freshen up, I'll safe your seat."

A gentle push of his hand and you're on your way.

* * *

You sit back down on your stool. It's a miracle that Mr. Gallant has managed to safe it for you in the crowded place. You keep your eyes on your clean, but still stinging hands, as his eyes roam your pale face.

"I'll be damned! There was a girl underneath all that dirt!"

You know he's just teasing, but you can't help but feel annoyed. Without the layer of dirt, many of the demons are eyeing you with certain interest. After a careful count, you and the bartender are the only girls. Damn it!

"If you don't want to talk about your bad day, can I at least know your name?" You look at the kind stranger, just as he shoots a dangerous look over his shoulder. No eyes are on you anymore, when he turns back to you. His face is kind and his smile disarming. If you were into freakishly tall guys, you'd totally do him.

"Dude, you haven't even bought me a drink yet." You mutter sarcastically.

As if on cue, a glass with an amber liquid is placed before you. And you're mentally smacking that smug look off his face.

"It's Jaiden."

"And my name is Kin."

"_Hm,__ which means 'golden'. Allow me a second to roll my eyes."_

"So, Jaiden. How much?"

You down the amber coloured drink in one go and you barely recognise the taste of apple juice. Its liquid warmth seeps into you from the inside out.

"How much what, cat boy?" Your voice is rough from the strong alcoholic apple juice. Without having to ask, the bartender refills your glass with a smile on her face. You're about to toss this back too, but you startle into putting your glass down, when you feel Kin lean against you.

"How much do you charge?"

The way his golden eyes roam your figure leaves no question as to what you're supposed to charge money for. Horrified, you can only stare at him when he licks his lips as if you're a tasty little girl-snack. His lustful look turns slightly surprised when you narrow your violet eyes dangerously at him.

"And just what makes you think that I'm selling _that_?"

His arm snakes around your waist to pull you flush against his form. It seems like he's gotten over his surprise. "Oh, come on darling! Don't try to fool yourself. Why else would a woman come to a place like this? Besides, everything about you just screams 'cheap whore for sale'..."

A second later, a disgusted yell is heard outside, followed by a series of tortured screams. The guests inside jump out of their chairs to avoid the burning figure of Kin, who runs blindly through the bar in terror and panic. Almost everything he bumps into immediately bursts into flames too. The chairs, the drapes, everything.

The anger and indignation at Kin's assumption ignited everything you felt after climbing out of your grave. You had thrown your alcoholic drink in his face and set it ablaze with your fire before you had even give it a thought. Now you're counting on the chaos and noise to disguise your escape. The crowd easily sweeps you're small form outside. Nobody seems to take notice of you in the panic, as the bar quickly bursts into flames. You hurry down the street, your quick, light footsteps disguised by the crackling of fire. A few blocks further, you come to a stop and lean against the wall.

Your heart beats a wild tattoo under your trembling hand. Leaning your head backwards against the brick wall, you angrily collect your racing thoughts.

"_I can't believe that asshole! I'm the essence of class and style and he confuses me with a cheap whore. Psh! At least I set a cat-demon on fire today. I can cross that of my to-do-list."_

"We saw what you did."

With a startled squeal, you jump away from the wall. Three large, scary looking demons are advancing towards you. They're all cat demons with various degrees of hatred in their glare.

"You killed our partner."

Your heart sinks down to your stomach. You're tired, aching and in no condition to fight. Not that you're much of a fighter anyway. These guys are cat demons, you know that you can't outrun them. There's nothing you can do, but face what they dish out. You're just getting a little bit worried.

You wish Hiei was here.

"Oooh, I'm positively cowering in fear." You say with more sarcasm and confidence you thought you were capable of in this situation. Hoping they don't anything, you carefully back away from the dangerous looking demons.

Then, your back collides with a warm chest and large hands settle on your hips. For a glorious moment, you're convinced that it's your favourite disgruntled fire demon, who has come to safe you again. Despite knowing that he's probably going to scold you for being weak, you lean back and wordlessly accept his help.

But to your utter surprise, the voice that vibrates through his chest and your back does not belong to Hiei.

* * *

**Prince Elmo:** There it is! Happy now?

**Botan:** Who's the mysterious stranger?

**Prince Elmo:** You'll probably have to wait a couple of months, until I update again, to get your answer. (walks out)

* * *


	4. Going Back

**Prince Elmo:** So.....How long has it been since I updated?

**Botan:** I'd say a week or 5?

**Prince Elmo:** Oh....That's pretty bad.

**Botan:** Yup. Still stuck on that same spot as 6 months ago?

**Prince Elmo:** Yup.

**Me no own, you no sue. You leave review, me reply.**

* * *

"An' jus' what the hell are yeh fellas doin' attackin' a young, inn'cent lass? Tha's not very fair, yeh kno'. If ah were yeh, ah'd get outa her' as fast as yeh can!"

"_Oh yeah, definately not Hiei."_

With his hands still protectively wrapped around your waist, Jin continues to ramble on about the injustice of three men attacking one girl. You don't even make an effort to listen, you can't understand half of it anyway.

"I would like to take a moment to roll my eyes." You mutter to yourself.

From the corner of your eye, you see that Touya is trying to make eyecontact. Probably to see if you're okay. You don't know what made you do it, but you quickly duck your head in a panic, to make your hair hide your face. "_What am I going to do?? I've been dead for a couple of days! Can't just walk back into their lives. They're going __to ask difficult questions now.....Maybe I can play dumb and pretend not to know what they're talking about...."_

"Lass, are yeh okay?" After letting go of you, the windmaster steps in front of you. His warm hand is now resting on your shoulder, fitting the picture of the comforting older brother to a tee. You can only see his bare feet, since your head is still bowed.

"_Wow, he takes such good care of his toenails! I wonder if he's gay.__ He does spend a lot of time with Touya..." _With a swipe of his larger hand, he brushes your shoulder-length hair out of your face. You gasp and instantly step out of his grasp.

"I'm fine! Thanks for the help. Not that I needed it or anything, I was just about to go Psycho-White-Chick on them. You should've seen it, it's way impressive when I do that! I'll be going now. Have a nice day!" You ramble in one breath. You turn on your heel and literally dash past two other guys you don't know.

But then a cool, powerful hand on your wrist pulls you to a stop. "Hang on, I know you."

There's no stopping to your nervous giggle. You're still not looking Touya in the eye, hiding behind your shield of hair. "No, you don't. I just have one of those faces you see everywhere! No need to apologise, happens to me all the time. Now, if you'd just let go....."

You're desperately trying to pull your wrist away from the Ice Master, but you're simply not strong enough. For an insane moment, you consider chewing off your arm.

"What ar' yeh talkin' 'bout, Touy'?"

You hear the Wind Master approaching and you double your efforts to get away. You're honestly starting to wonder how much it would hurt to chew off your arm. It's not like you really use it much anyway.

Then, with both his hands, Jin pulls back your hair to reveal your pale face. Wide, startled violet meets curious, cobalt blue.

"Hiei's lass!"

"Jaiden!"

They shout at the same time. The hand around your wrist has loosened it's grip in shock and you easily pull it away now. After you take a few steps back, you rock back and forth on your feet as they gawk at you. You want to shove your hands in your pockets, but quickly decide against it. Your knuckles are still raw.

That old saying: 'Looking like you've seen a ghost', never really made sense until now.

"You're supposed to be dead."

"Errrm....Yeah....About that....I'm a really deep sleeper?" You smile uncomfortably and look at your nails like you've never seen them before. Humming a song to which you can't remember the words, you pick at the dirt under your damaged nails. You faintly hear Jin talking to the two strangers who you've ignored up until now.

Then you jump as a small, warm hand is wrapped around yours, letting out an embarrassing girly squeak. A young boy, with three stars painted on his cheek, is carefully looking at your hand from every angle.

"I don't think she knows what happened. Look at her hands!" He holds up your hands for them to see. Your knuckles are pink and skinless, your nails broken and various cuts run across your palm.

"It looks like she had to dig her way out of her grave..."

"_Hey, another genius-baby! I wonder if he's related to Koenma..." _As he looks you in the eye, you can see that this boy is in fact a man. The wisdom and compassion in his eyes is not something you find in a normal child.

"Yeah, and I can tell you one thing. It sucks unholy monkeybutt."

He grins at this. "It's okay now. We'll take care of you. My name is Rinku, that's Chuu and you've met the other guys, right?"

You nod at him and offer Chuu a small wave, who looks utterly uninterested. You're just a little bit insulted by this. _"Hello? I'm just about the most fascinating person alive. If you don't see this, you can at least pretend to worship me. It's only polite to--"_

"Come on!" Rinku interrupts your train of thought.

Taking firm, but gentle control of your hand, Rinku leads you down the street. You follow without complaint, but only because you're curious as to where he's taking you. Behind you, the other demons are talking in rapid whispers. You feel a rush of affection for Rinku, as he doesn't question you, but tries to take your mind off of things. He's telling you about himself, how old he is and where he's from.

You try to listen, you really do. But it's just so damn boring. _"Ugh, my kingdom for a pleasant coma."_

"Are you even listening?"

You snort in a very un-lady-like manner. "Of course not."

The poor guy looks hurt at your words. "Hey, don't take it personally! I never listen. To anybody. You see, I have the attentionspan of a cactus and a serious case of ADHD....And hearing people talk is just so boring!"

You earn a smile at this. "Say Rinku, where are we going anyway?"

"We're going to Koenma, of course! Jin, have you contacted him yet?" He asks over his shoulder. You turn your head to look at the windmaster. He's holding a communicator you haden't noticed before. He gives you a lopsided grin.

"Aye, jus' did. He's sendin' Botan 't make one o' those portals an' he called Yus'ke an' the gang."

Your stomache lurches at the prospect of seeing the guys again. "_So, they should know by now. How will they react?"_

* * *

You arrive at the edge of the city fairly quick. There, a familiar girl is waiting for you. She gasps and pales when she sees you. "Koenma told me, but....How could this happen?"

You strike a dramatic pose and exclaim the cheesiest explanation you can think of at this time: "It's magic!"

After saying goodbye to Rinku and the others, Botan creates a portal for you and motions for you to step in. You hesitate for a second, a twinge of nervousness suddenly settling in your stomach. The ferry girl gently touches your shoulder. "I left before the guys were there, but I'm sure they missed you!"

You glance at her one more time, before jumping into the portal. After the familiar fallingsensation that brings butterflies to your stomach, which brings an excited squeal from you, you land painfully on your rear.

Figures.

"Ouch, my ass! I'm so sueing Koenma for physical, emotional and psychological damage! As soon as I know how to sue a god!" You loudly rant while rubbing your bum. Your yells are attracting the attention of Koenma's ogre's, earning you quite a lot of wide-eyed stares. Some quickly turn back to their work when you make a childish face at them, others don't know how fast to get away.

They must remember you.

Soft whispers are exchanged as you make your way through the rows of desks, towards the door at the end. You had walked down this path before, with a similar sense of foreboding. But back then, it had been easier. You had not been alone.

Standing in front of the door to Koenma's office, you linger. Suddenly nervous again, you hesitate to go into the office. The hand that had been reaching for the doorknob, falls back to your side. You turn around and take a few steps back, only to approach the door again. You shift your weight from one foot to the other. The ogre's are watching you. You clear your throat and look around.

"Will you just come in already?!"

The voice makes you jump, startling you into pushing the wooden door open. It makes a soft creaking noise and you make a mental note to tell Koenma to put some oil on the hinges. You stand there, in the doorframe, taking in all the faces that have turned to you. They've got various degrees of shock on them and you wait for someone to make a move or say something. You stand there for an eternity.

Then, Kurama approaches you with a smile on his handsome face and his arms wide open. You dash into the room.

* * *

**Prince Elmo:** I can't help it, I love Jin!! *hugs his face to her bosom*

**Jin:** *muffled* Prince Elmo'd 'preciate feedback, as well as not gettin' killed over 't fact that she leaves you with 'nother cliffhanger. Which 's hella funny, by 't way....


	5. Like Old Times

**Prince Elmo:** People, it has happened. I'm officially out of inspiration. Jaiden stopped speaking to me.......I have written out quite a lot, however, and I'll post all of it as soon as I get around to it. For now, I hope everyone enjoys Chapter 5!

**Genkai:** ***glares***

**Prince Elmo:** Now THAT'S an effective disclaimer!

* * *

Kurama, with his arms spread wide and eyes filled with happiness. Never had you seen something so comforting, your cheeks filling with the warmth of it. You dash into Koenma's office without second thought.

And run right past him to jump into Kuwabara's arms.

Your arms wrap around his neck in a deathgrip and you press your face to his chest. "The gravestone you picked out for me is gorgeous!! Thank you so much! Nobody else would've picked something like that. It's so sweet of you! By the way, is Yukina your girl yet?"

The heartfelt words are muffled, but you're pretty sure he got them when he wraps his arms carefully around you. Your worries are chased away by his gentle hug and the heartbeat you can hear in his broad chest.

* * *

After a couple of minutes of gentle cuddling, Kuwabara had gently steered you into a seat. Koenma then asked you the questions that had been on your mind too: how had this happened, what had exactly happened, how this could possibly happen and bla bla bla. He didn't quite understand that you don't have the answer either, no matter what you told him or what kind of looks you threw him. He just continued to grill you in that annoying kind of way. It was this moment that you figured out Koenma is immune to sarcasm, which seems logical, if you look at the time he's known Hiei. Either way, you found a less subtle way of telling him you have no idea either.

Meaning that you jumped up on your chair, stuffed your fingers in your ears and sang My Heart Will Go On at the top of your lungs.

It's a good song to sing really loud.

Next thing you know, a hand was clapped over your mouth and you were being carried out of Koenma's office. Who was throwing a tempertantrum of epic proportions.

* * *

You wildly kick your legs and make an effort to bite Yusuke's hand, as he carries you through Koenma's place. After a couple of failed tries, you managed to clamp your teeth onto his hand, to which Yusuke yelps and drops you. "Ouch! You bit me!"

You give him a one-shouldered shrug. "Yeah, I know."

"Why did you do that??" Several ogres have turned to watch you again.

You widen your eyes to make yourself look cute and innocent. "I have never tried cannibalism before."

He bends down, so his face it really close to yours. "I'd really like you to loose that sarcastic attitude!"

"And I would like you to spontaniously selfcombust, but that's not very likely to happen either..." You say with a casual tone, eyes still wide and innocent.

"Bitch!"

"Koenma's pet." You bite his nose.

Kurama pulls you away from Yusuke just in time to avoid a flying fist. "I'll kill her!"

You stick out your tongue at him from Kurama's arms, in the most childish way you can muster. Being cocky really is easier when doing it from a safe hiding place. With a sneaky grin on your face, you watch Kuwabara hold Yusuke back from hurting you.

"Why did you do that?"

You turn to Kurama with an innocent smile. "I wanted to see if I still got it."

"Got what?"

"The fabulous talent for annoying the snot out of people." You strike a cheesy pose. Kurama just smiles affectionately and shakes his head at you.

Having calmed down somewhat, Yusuke angrily points his finger at you. "You better get ready to leave, because we're going to Genkai's."

You narrow your eyes at him and open your mouth to object.

"You don't have a choice in the matter!"

Your mouth snaps shut again. "Oh, in that case--" You cross your arms in front of your chest and sit down on the floor. "I'm not going."

"What?! You can't do that! What the hell is wrong with you?!" His voice seems to have gone up a few octaves.

You roll your eyes at him, nose in the air. "Oh, stop being such a dramaqueen!"

He throws his arms up in indignation. "You're going either wa -- Did you just call me a queen?"

You grin wolfishly at him, an air of arrogance obvious in your voice. "If the tiara fits..."

After a stunned silence, where Yusuke only stares at you and you grin back, he lunges at you. You squeal in surprise as he easily slings you over his shoulder and walks off.

Now it's your turn to be stunned into silence. And then you start to beat his back with your fists and scream at the top of your lungs.

"Yusuke Urameshi! Put me down, NOW!! I mean it! If you don't put me down, I will make you regret the day I came back to life! This counts as kidnapping!! Someone help me, I'm being kidnapped by a possible rapist! Seriously!! Help! Why is no one helping?!"

* * *

Yusuke didn't seem to mind that you screamed yourself hoarse on his shoulder. It's not like you can punch all that hard anyway. Kurama on the other hand, had been pleading you to stop screaming, because he was concerned that you'd exhaust yourself. The poor guy was worried.

Since you're now completely exhausted, you have settled for being carried. You recognised the forest as the one leading to Genkai's temple.

"_Hm, deja vu. Yusuke carried me like this when I had j__ust met them. Same situation, same people, different stupid trees.....Oh, look! A squirrel....The only one who's missing is Hiei. I wonder where he is."_

Just as you open your mouth to ask, Kurama answers it for you. "We haven't seen Hiei much lately. We don't know where he is."

You push yourself up, so you can look at the redhead. Softly, you voice a thought that has been on the edge of your mind. "How is he?"

Kurama's eyes soften. "Same as always."

"Yeah, figures." You smile wistfully. You had expected nothing less from Hiei. "Anyway, how--Christ!"

You yelp as Yusuke suddenly lets you fall off his shoulder onto the ground and right on your bum.

"Ouch! Meanie! What was that good for??" You glare at his back as he starts to climb the stairs leading up to the temple. "Oh, that's why." You look up.

"_Ah, Great Stairs of Doom. We meet again.__ But this time, I shall be victorious! Prepare to meet your maker. Should be a pretty crazy guy if he made stairs like this..."_

(Five minutes later and not even close to half way up)

You crumble to your doom on the cold, hard steps, gasping for air.

"Alas! I have been defeated!" You add a very fake sounding cough. "Great Stairs, thou art a worthy opponent and I will see thee again in the Fabulous Afterlife! I shall perish here, but try not to let anyone step on my dead body. I might need it later. Remember to avenge me! Don't let my death be invain..." You announce with a dramatic voice. Then you die with lots of twitching, seizures and odd, spluttering noises. At last you slump down, your eyes half-open and you remain still.

Needless to say, you're in no danger of winning an Academy Award any time soon.

"Just a wild guess, but would you like me to carry you?"

"Yes, please."

* * *

The stairs seem a whole lot less evil when you look at them from Kurama's back.

"How did you know I wanted to be carried?"

"Like I said, it was a wild guess."

You look over your shoulder to smile at Kuwabara. You make a weird face at him, which brings a smile to his face. When you turn back, your eyes are drawn towards Kurama's hair. I mean, how can you not look at it? It's right in front of you! Not to mention your little hairfetish. You just want to reach out and ruffle it...

"Don't even think about it."

You make a noise of surprise. "Do you hide a Jagan Eye in there as well as an entire jungle?"

"Maybe." He answers with a mysterious grin. Then he gently puts you down on the grass. "We're here."

You thank him and turn around to see Yukina, Genkai and Keiko walking towards you. You willingly and patiently submit to their weird looks, hugs and nescessairy questions.

"You guys sure changed a whole lot while I was gone." You leave them standing there to walk towards the temple. "Look at that! New plants, new paintjob, an extra guesthouse. How did you do this in a few days?"

A painful silence makes you pause and turn on the spot. They're all looking a bit uncomfortable and aren't really making eyecontact. It reminds you of the time your classmates had to tell you that the Toothfairy really doesn't excist. You frown at them. "What?"

Kurama clears his throat and slowly approaches you. When he's close enough to talk normally, he meets your eye. It's impossible to read him, as always. "Jaiden, how long do you think you were gone?"

A weight settles uncomfortably in your stomach. "I don't know, a few days? A week, maybe two?"

Cupping your sweaty hand in his, Kurama steadies you for his reply. "Five years, Jaiden. You've been gone for five years."

You make a small noise of surprise in the back of your throat, swaying on your feet in a wave of dizziness. Shock comes in the form of heat, that wraps around you like a blanket, muffling your senses for a moment. Just for a moment, you're away from the forest, the temple and Kurama's warm touch. Those lost years are not something you expected, just like seeing your own gravestone. The words just keep echoeing through your mind.

Five years.

Five years of your life. Gone. Vanished. Years you wasted by lying in a coffin, being dead. You could've done so much in that time! Like trying to get Hiei to wear leather pants.

"_He must've gotten over my death by now."_

The thought hits you like a hippo falling from the sky, almost making you gasp. The force of it makes the blanket of shock lift again. Blinking stupidly at Kurama, you drop his hand and take a step back from his unnerving, X-ray gaze. You stare at the grass, the sky, the trees, everywhere, but Kurama. The silent, awkward moment just keeps going.

But then you force a smile and beat down your feelings of dread and sadness. "Well, in that case, you all got five years older while I stayed young and gorgeous! I can totally live with that."

You spread your arms for a moment, before slapping them back to your side and quickly turning around. The fake smile falls from your face almost instantly, to be replaced with a very uncharacteristic frown. You could tell that Kurama didn't buy your obviously false optimism.

Another suffocating silence.

A burst of energy behind, you whip around immediately.

Only to be thrown backwards at high speed.

Your breath leaves you in a starled yell, as you land painfully on your back with a suffocating weight on your chest. Brightly coloured stars flicker hyperactively in your vision, you blink rapidly to make them go away. When your sight returns, you find yourself almost nose-to-nose with the demon who has been on your mind ever since you climbed out of your grave.

"Hiei!" You manage to gasp.

Far away, in a distant land it seems, you barely hear several outraged yells coming from the gang, but you pay no attention to what they're saying. His smouldering, red eyes are inches from yours, holding them in a dead stare and it doesn't look like he's going to move away any time soon.

You decide that you're very flattered.

"Wow, I should die more often! I can't remember when you ever tackle-hugged me. It's really sweet, I appreciate it, but you're kind of smothering me. Kindly get off?"

You gently push at his shoulders, but you frown when the demon doesn't budge at all. You flatten your hands against the grass and squirm to get up, but sharp pain at your throat makes you hiss and freeze in place. Then you notice that his katana is perched high to slice of your head any second, already drawing a drop of blood you can feel sliding down your throat.

"Who are you?" The question is hissed dangerously.

You can only gawk disbelievingly at him for a few seconds. "Hello-o? This is me. Jaiden. Look, I know I died a few years ago, but it's not been that long! Is it too much to ask that you don't kill me again on sight? Get off!!" You angrily bark the command at him and shove at his shoulder. Snapping at him is probably a bad idea, seeing where his weapon is, but you're too insulted to care.

In reprimand, he presses the katana down, drawing more blood and a pained yelp from you. "I don't believe you." The yells are getting louder now.

Maybe it's your anger or your hurt, or maybe it's just that time of the month again, you don't know. But you completely lose your composure.

"Don't believe me? Don't believe me?! I come back from the dead for you and you don't believe me?! Why don't you read my mind then, freaking insensitive bastard!!" You yell in his face, your eyes narrowed to mere violet slits and your cheeks flushed and burning in rage.

Before you know it, Hiei has unwrapped his bandana from his forehead, his Jagan Eye already opened. You barely have time to panic, as he literally thrusts his mind through your mental barriers.

The violence of this invasion is too much for your untrained mind and you black out instantly.

* * *

**Prince Elmo:** So, I'm sorry I won't be able to write more. Please be patient with me. I don't just want to force my writing, because I'm affraid the quality will go down the drain. (Not that there is much quality to begin with.....) I'll upload all of the chapters I have so far.


	6. The Underwear Toss

**Prince Elmo: **I've returned with the story that makes Hiei/OC-pairings fun to read! Any PMs about me needing to upload faster will be laughed at.

**Keiko:** **If Hiei were Unolai's, he'd be taller.**

* * *

Your firm believe that beds are God's gift to women is once again confirmed. The soft, warm covers you're wrapped in are heavenly and you inhale their clean-washed scent. Nothing can possibly feel better than this, even though the oxygen-level underneath the blankets is quickly decreasing. For the moment, you decide to not think about everything that has happened and ignore the sharp pain in your throat. Humming in pleasure, you roll onto your back and stretch like a cat. Still completely covered by your blanket. "Hmmm, bed. Good. Me like."

"Jaiden, are you awake?"

"No, I always talk during my sleep."

You clutch your fluffy covers like a hobo clutches his precious newspapers, just in case Kurama wants to take them away from you. Feeling him tug on them, you instantly roll over to wrap your precious blanket even more tightly around your body.

And roll right out of bed.

"Ouch! Yeah, _now_ I'm awake." You mutter darkly.

Hearing him chuckle, you carefully poke your head out from under the mess of blanket. You first squint at the sudden light and then scowl at the redhead for laughing at you. He's sitting on the bed you just rolled out of, smiling his damn disarming smile. After a small moment of silence, he reaches over and starts to softly finger-comb your hair. The lovely sensation sends shivers down your spine and goosebumps pop up on your arms. You suddenly remember why it's impossible to stay mad at him.

By the time he's gently worked out of knots, you have sagged bonelessly against his leg. Eyes closed, cheek smushed up against his knee and your warm covers still wrapped around your legs.

"How do you feel?"

"Hmmm, like jelly."

His hand pauses on your head, leaving a warm, hand-shaped spot on your scalp. "You know what I mean."

You turn your head to lean your chin on his knee and look at the redhead. His hand still on your hair and your eyes half closed.

"Can you give me a second? I'm not fully awake yet." You answer while hiding a yawn behind your hand. Which is healed, you notice with a start.

He gives a small nod.

With a sigh, you use his knee for leverage as you stand up and walk over to the closet. Not in the slightest bit embarrassed about the red t-shirt and underwear you're currently only wearing. Opening the door, you find it filled with clothes similar to what you used to wear.

Feeling a rush of affection for Botan, you pull out a pair of jeans and a soft yellow tank top.

After tossing them on the comfy-chair in the corner, you turn back to Kurama. You shift your weight from one foot to the other and try to make sense of your own feelings and thoughts. The words that followed come out effortlessly. "I'm not hurt or in pain or anything, just really confused. This wasn't supposed to happen. It can't have happened, but it still did somehow. I don't understand. I mean, I've never been affraid of death, because there always came a new life after that. Death is just the start of something new. This is just so weird...I don't know what to make of it."

You walk towards the bed and sit down next to him. His arm wraps around your shoulders in a way that feels natural.

"Aren't you sad?"

You frown at him. "What for?"

"You died."

You shrug. "I've died countless times. This is just the first time I can remember it. It was a shock and it scared me and climbing out of my grave wasn't exactly a picknick either, but it's okay now. I feel pretty good. Mentally as well as physically."

Kurama leans forward, so he can look you in the eye. The intensity of his stare makes it feel like he's x-raying you. "What about Hiei?"

You look down towards your feet and make a mental note to paint your toenails later. "I haven't decided yet." You answer thruthfully.

He gives your shoulders a gentle squeeze. "So, you're okay then?"

You smile brightly at him and pull him in for a hug. "It's really sweet that you're worried, but don't worry! I'll be fine. It was scary at first, but now its only weird and confusing. I swear, it will be okay!"

Seemingly satisfied with this answer, Kurama allows you to lead him out of the room. "Still, if you need to talk, I'll listen anytime you want."

"Yeah, I know. Now get out, I need to change." You close the door behind him.

Wasting no time, you dash back to the bed and lunge back under the covers, the springs protesting loudly.

"_Yep, beds and Kurama are God's gift to girls."_

* * *

After a three hour nap, you finally drag yourself out of bed to find that it's noon already. Your stomache agrees with a loud rumble. But for now, you decide to ignore your stomach and have a nice shower first. Bouncing over to the stereo, you turn it on with a push of the button. The song that's playing brings a smile to your face.

"You gotta do much better if you're gonna dance with me tonight...."

You dance over to the chair to pick up your clothes, singing along at the top of your lungs and shaking your bum to the music. "I don't think you're ready, for this jelly! I don't think you're ready for this."

The bathroom is conviëntly connected to your bedroom and you carelessly toss your clean clothes inside. In one graceful move, you manage to lock the door, strip down and turn on the shower.

"Move your body up and down! Make your booty touch the ground!"

While the shower heats up, you twirl around to the mirror. There's a small bandaid on your throat, that's already turning crimson in the middle. You stop singing to look at it, eyebrows shooting up towards your hairline. Standing on the tip of your toes to lean close to the mirror, you carefully peel it off.

The cut looks irritated and is still bleeding, but it looks harmless besides that. It's a small, shallow cut after all. You frown at it. It's probably going to leave a scar and that would be your first. It's not that you're vain, you're just upset at the person who caused it. You just can't believe he did that! You turn on the spot once more and step into the warm shower, still bobbing to the music.

"I shake my jelly at every chance. When I whip with my hips, you slip into a trance!"

* * *

You push the bathroomdoor open, releasing a wave of steam and toss your sleeping clothes out into the bedroom, without looking where they land. After snatching up the first aid kit, you dash out of the bathroom.

And almost slam into Hiei.

Nothing should be wrong with that, as it was just a matter of time before he'd seek you out. There's just the fact of your red t-shirt on his left shoulder....

And you underwear hanging from his right ear.

"...Pffffhhhahaha!!"

You can't help, you burst out into hysterical laughter. You've just never seen him look so awkward! It's so freaking funny, you forget to be embarrassed. You drop the first aid kit to clutch your side, unable to stop your wild laughter. The music still playing in the background, but you can hardly hear it.

By the time you're done giggling, your cheeks are flushed and aching and you're completely out of breath. When you straighten up to look the demon in the eye, you can't manage to whipe that grin off your face.

To your utter surprise, neither can Hiei.

Your underwear seems to have joined your t-shirt on the floor and the firedemon is eyeing you with the faintest of smiles on his face. But it looks like he's trying really hard not to show it. You smile back out of habit, but then you remember you're mad at him. You quickly try to scowl, but you can't quite manage it. As soon as you do, any trace of a smile on Hiei's face is gone.

For the longest second, you two just stare at eachother. Neither one of you willing to give in first. Then Hiei's eyes are drawn downward. _"Hey! Is he staring at my cleavage??"_

When you look down, you see a drop of blood making it's way towards your crispy clean, yellow top. "Oh, shit!" You immediatly reach up to stop it, because you don't feel like changing.

Your hand is captured in mid-air.

Using that same hand to tug you closer, Hiei wraps a steady arm around your waist, your hand still firm in his. Before you can protest against his sudden close proximity, he dips his head to slowly trace the blood back to it's source with his tongue.

* * *

**Prince Elmo:** Remember when I made your bra land on Kurama's head....?


	7. Why The Windows Should Be Nailed Shut

**Prince Elmo:** Credit to dumbrat for helping me with this certain scene and for being my BETA. I wuvs u!

**Dumbrat:** **Neither of us owns a thing, but the undying love for eachother. 3** Well, that and icecream. Nothing beats icecream....

* * *

You gasp at the sensation of Hiei's hot tongue on the side of your neck, as he pulls your unresisting body tight against his with the powerful arm around your waist. The heat from his body washes over you, your knees go weak and you lean heavily against him. He supports your weight easily. Letting go of your hand to cup the side of your neck, he holds you in place when his warm mouth closes over your cut. Without any thought, your head tilts backwards to give him more room.

Your hands flutter up to tease the short hairs at the nape of his neck. With your other hand, you softly massage his scalp and you're rewarded with a shiver he couldn't suppress. Electricity shoots straight to your center, as he begins to suck at your wound. You mewl in appreciation at the strange mix of pleasure and pain. Your hips curve towards him, when he soothes what little pain you felt with a flick of his tongue. Hiei is displaying a gentle side you have never seen in him before. _"I'm sure he considers a gentle side as a weakness....He cares enough for me to show weakness..."_

At this realisation, a tidalwave of warmth and affection spreads through you. You immediatly forgive him for his earlier mistake and wrap your arms tightly around his strong shoulders. You turn your head to nuzzle his thick, soft hair. The hand on your neck tightens a fraction of a second. After one last swipe of his tongue, he slowly pulls back. His eyes sweep over your flushed cheeks, your wet lips and loving eyes. The hand on your neck slides up to cup your face, you lean into his gentle touch and try to read his smouldering gaze. Having never been all that good at reading someone, you quickly give up on figuring out this enigma. You reach up and slide your hand into his irrisistable hair again. The flutter of his eyes almost goes unnoticed.

Taking firm control of his head, you pull him down to press your lips to his in a soft, loving caress. He responds immediatly, deepening the kiss by thrusting his tongue past your unresisting lips. You savor the feeling of his slow, sweet strokes and close your eyes, inhaling his musky scent. Your mind goes pleasantly numb. His kisses are very addictive. All to soon, he pulls back from the heated kiss, his warm, calloused hand still on your cheek. You press your flushed body against Hiei, desperate for more of him and silently begging him to continue. He leans his forehead against yours and closes his eyes briefly. You take a second to muse about how his bodyheat is always a little warmer than yours.

Next thing you know, you fall painfully onto your bum on the floor.

"Eep!!" You squeek and splutter in disbelieve at the open window Hiei just disappeared out of. Then you scowl and mutter darkly: "He has got to stop doing that."

You get to your feet somewhat unsteadily, muttering about the rudeness of first getting a girl all hot and then jumping out the window. Picking up the first-aid-kit where you dropped it, you sigh deeply and roll your eyes at the demon. Even though he's no longer in the room.

"Alright, first I have to take care of my cut." You take a few steps towards the mirror, when you notice the wetness between your legs. "....And change my underwear..." You put down the kit on the dresser beneath the mirror and start to look for bandaids.

But you stop, when you look at your reflection.

Where your cut first was, only a faint red line remains. You lean closer to the mirror and touch it gently. There's no pain or discomfort of any kind. It has completely vanished!

"_This must be his way of saying sorry."_

You close the first-aid-kit and stare curiously at the red line some more. It seems to be fading already, turning a more pinkish colour. Then you snort. "He had better not think he can just lick my neck and make things better everytime he screws up!"

But after a moment of thought, you frown. "Who am I kidding? Of course he can..."

* * *

"Huuuungryyyyy!" You bolt into the kitchen like a bat out of hell and jump onto Kurama's back, wrapping your limbs around him in a deathgrip. "Feed me! Feed me, now!" Turning your head, you sink your teeth in the poor redhead's neck.

"Gah! Jaiden! Have you gone insane?!" He easily pulls you off his back, forcing you to unclench your jaws from his neck. He gingerly rubs the bright red bite-mark on his creamywhite skin, while scowling at you.

"Dude, I just bit your neck. A bit of a dumb question for someone as brainy as you..." You put your fists on your hips and proceed to stare down the foxdemon. But after half a second, you give up and repeat your earlier statement. "I'm hungry."

Kurama takes the hand off his neck and holds it up to see if you've drawn blood. "Well, I was making lunch for you, since you have skipped breakfast..."

You raise your eyebrows. "Was...?"

The redhead directs you with an accusing stare that makes you feel like a little schoolgirl who's gotten into trouble and had to go to the principal's office. Only this isn't some kind of kinky roleplay. "Yes, but I figure that the nice bite you took out of my neck should suffice for a proper meal."

Your cocky grin is replaced with a pout. "But...but...You have to make me lunch! You can't just let me starve!"

"Give me one good reason." The scowl on Kurama's face is very uncharacteristic.

You hold up three fingers. "I'll give you not one, but three reasons! Here they come, so brace yourself. First off, you don't want me to use the kitchen and make a mess, do you? Remember what happened the last time you left me alone in here." You jerk a thumb towards the suspicious, dark-green stain on the ceiling, right above the microwave.

"Secondly," You tick off on your fingers. "Nobody cooks better than you! You're simply fabulous! It would be futile to try and duplicate your wonderful cookingskills" Batting you eyelashes at him, you doubt that sucking up helps, since his dark expression hasn't changed a bit.

"And last, but certainly not least." You clasp your hands together under your chin, widen your eyes to make yourself look cute and innocent and make your voice go up dramatically. "I'm too adorable to stay mad at." You stick out your lowerlip for extra effect.

The two of you continue your little staringcontest, before Kurama sighs and hands you your lunch in defeat. After letting out a big whoop, you barely make it to the table in time to wolf down your food. You're eating like a pig, you're fully aware of it, but you can't get yourself to care much.

Which is the reason you don't look up until you're almost done, with your cheeks stuffed full with food.

Kurama is watching you with morbid fascination and surprise written clearly on his face and Kuwabara and Yusuke have appeared in the doorway, wearing similar looks.

"Fhey, Afh n't eathen mhin phive yeash, sctrew tapfelmhennerst, tsust back thre phell ophf!" You bitch at them through a mouthful.

"Alright, let's try that again without the large amount of half digested bread in your mouth."

"I said, I haven't eaten in five years, screw tablemanners, just back the hell off." You quickly stuff the remaining pieces of bread in your mouth and munch on them while you watch the other guys sit down. Yusuke sits down next to you, with a plate loaded with sandwiches similar to the one you ate.

But before you can make a sarcastic comment, Yusuke says: "Gee, you sure eat like a pig when you're hungry." You giggle flirtatiously at him and pat him on the shoulder. "That's so funny coming from someone so sophisticated as you!"

Sarcasmmeter explodes in the background.

He scowls at you, but just as he opens his mouth the respond, the girls walk in. You jump up and give them an excited wave. "Good morning, my loves!"

Botan laughs at you. "More like 'good afternoon'!" You stick out your tongue at her. "Same difference!"

The bluenette then turns to the guys. "Koenma needs to talk to you. You have to come to his office right away! Has anyone seen Hiei?"

You scowl at the thought of going to that crybaby again and sigh deeply as you stand up. "Oh, not you Jaiden, just the guys." She merely shrugs at your surprised look. "I brought Keiko and Yukina to keep you company while we are gone"

"Yeah, more like to keep me from making a huge mess of the house while they're gone...Which could've been really fun! Bleh, buzzkillers!" You mutter under your breath and cross your arms over your chest.

"I think I saw Hiei outside. Let's go." Kurama then turns to you with a stern look. "Behave yourself. I mean it." Kuwabara shoots you an apologetic smile, which you answer with a smile of your own.

You look around the kitchen, as the guys make their way outside. "Oh, yummy! Coffee!" You yell excitedly and jump up to pour yourself some.

"Don't even think about it!" Kurama bitches from outside. You pout. Coffee is good!

Keiko gives you a gentle smile as she pours the coffee down the drain. Yukina sits down next to you. "Jaiden, I am so glad you are back. You were always so kind to me and Kazuma is extremely fond of you. He was very sad when you died."

You smile at the icemaiden, truly touched by her words. "You know, Kazuma really likes you too..." This brings a light blush to her pale skin and you grin somewhat seductively at her.

"Jaiden! We thought it would be nice to go out tonight!" Keiko deftly changes the subject. "What would you like to do?"

Rolling your eyes up to the ceiling, you think for a second. And then you clearly state: "I want to go dancing."

* * *

**Prince Elmo:** I can has cawfee nao?


	8. It's Super Chapter

**Prince Elmo:** Return of teh genius!!

**Koenma: Don't own, don't make money off this, don't sue.**

* * *

"Does this make my butt look big?" Keiko is wearing her new jeans, standing amidst a big mess of clothes. She turns her back to you.

Because Keiko didn't want to stay out so late, you had decided to go dancing early. Yukina had declined, stating that it wasn't something she liked to do. After you promised her you'd do something she'd like another time, you and Keiko went upstairs to change. You had managed to do your hair, make-up and get dressed within ten minutes. The human girl however.....

You scowl at her from over the top of your magazine.

Then you gasp dramatically. "Wow, your ass looks huge! And I'm not talking your everyday, gardenvariëty huge. I'm talking Oh-My-God-The-Titanic-Sunk-Huge!"

Keiko turns back to you, a hand over her heart and looking utterly insulted.

"Hey, you asked! If you don't want to know, don't ask. Your bum looks huge enough to spot with Google Earth." You turn back to your magazine with a nonchalant look on your face.

"That is so rude! I can't believe--"

"Relax, I was joking."

"Really?"

"No."

You hear her make a small noise and you look up from your Cosmo. Keiko is looking at her reflection, a very sad and hurt look on her face. The thought never occured to you, having no problem with self-esteem yourself, but she must be insecure. After mentally smacking your forehead, you hurry over to her and sling an arm around her shoulder.

"Oh, come on! You know I was just goofing around! I think you look way awesome! Besides, what do you want to look good for anyway? We're just going dancing and Yusuke already likes you just the way you are! You could show up dressed in a garbagebag and he'd still love the way you look." You grin in a way you hope is just as disarming as Kurama's smile.

She gives you a weak shrug. "But I don't want him to fall in of love with a girl prettier than me and leave. I'd hate to be alone."

"Hun, I've been alone all my life and I haven't burst into flames yet. You'll be fine, alone or not." This makes earns you a small smile. "It's like an old friend of mine used to say: 'Theb vlo're ne tsajeh'et, theb tjawane je a s'wa nó tsajeh'eta.'" You give a firm nod to prove your point.

Keiko blinks owlishly at you. "What does that mean?"

You shrug. "No idea, but knowing my friend, it's bound to have been very clever!"

When she bursts out laughing, you have no choice but to join in. Then you slap her on the upperarm. "Come on! It's after four already! Seriously, how can you need three hours to get ready?!"

Keiko tosses a t-shirt at you, effectively covering your eyes. "We have to wait for the guys anyway!"

You toss the t-shirt back at her. "Who said that they're coming along??" In response to this question, she smiles a smile at you that thoroughly freaks you out. It's a creepy kind of smile, that psychokillers always use just before they whip out a chainsaw and start chopping people into pieces. You back away slowly, until your legs hit the bed and you fall backwards. She just keeps grinning at you in that same disturbed way.

"What?!"

"Oh, I think you want the guys to come along. " She says in an sing-songy voice. "Especially a certain firedemon." She continues in that same voice.

There is no stopping to your furious blush, as you get a mental picture of you and Hiei dancing very, ahem, intimately.

Keiko immediatly points an accusing finger at you. "Aha!! I knew there was something going on between you two!!" She yells in a high, screechy voice.

Dispite your flushed state, you manage to snort at her and cross your arms in defence. "Oh yeah, real clever of you. Since it's only dancing-naked-in-front-of-you-obvious!" You roll your eyes and quickly make your way over to the door, determined to get away from her and her stupid questions.

"Hey Jaiden?"

You turn around, eyebrows raised.

She grins wolfishly at you. "How does he kiss?"

It's moments like these that make your passionately wish you had complete and utter control over your expressions, as a stupid happy dreamy smile appears on your face. Keiko's laughter follows you as you litteraly storm out of her room.

* * *

"And what makes you think I'll go along with this nonsense?" Hiei drawls in a monotone voice, once again seated on the windowsill.

It was dinnertime when the guys had finally returned and you were too excited to question them about their meeting with Koenma. Under mild pressure and subtle blackmail, they quickly decided to come dancing with you. After dinner they went upstairs to change, while you and Keiko cleaned up.

Now that everybody is ready to go, you have managed to corner Hiei and are currently trying to convince him to come along too.

"Because it would make me very happy! Pretty please, Hiei?" You give him a hopeful smile and lay your head in his lap in an attempt to look irresistable.

With a very disgruntled "Hn.", the aparition turns back to the window, completely ignoring your change of position. You purse your lips in thought.

"_There has got to be a way to make him come with me. Let'__s see....Errm....Aha! I've got it!"_

With a bright smile, you lift your head from his lap. "You're okay with it, then?"

This gets his attention. "With what?" He snarls at you, clearly annoyed.

You jump up and spread your arms wide. "With me dancing with other guys!" It takes all of your selfcontrol not to burst out into laughter at Hiei's semi-stunned expression.

With your arms crossed over your chest, you continue. "Well, yeah! I mean, who will I dance with when you're not there? I'm sure that there are plenty of guys who won't mind. Of course, there is a possibility that they'll get grabby and try something funny, but that's a risk I'm willing to take. I'm so very sorry I bothered you with this." You press a kiss to his cheek. "Thanks for understanding!"

Turning on your heel, you walk out of the room. But before you even get to the frontdoor, Hiei quickly brushes past you with a unusual sour look on his face. You wink at Kurama. "Told you I'd get him to join!" You state in a very arrogant voice.

You then leave Kurama to stand there, looking surprised, and run to catch up with your favourite firedemon. Arriving to his side, you immediatly grasp his warm hand with yours, just to see how far you can take this. Instead of pulling back like you expect him too, Hiei simply grips your hand back.

Then he speeds up his step to make it look like he's having to drag you along. You roll your eyes at his antics.

"Psh, men and their reputations..." You mutter to yourself.

* * *

"No way!" Your outraged yell is drowned out by the sound of so many people talking amongst eachother. With your hand still in Hiei's, you gawk at the huge line of people waiting to get in the club.

Yusuke crosses his arms over his chest. "I told you it'd be like this! Why did you even want to go here? You have to be twenty-one years old or up to get in. It says so by the door."

You roll your eyes at him. "They only put that sign there to keep the uncool people out! Don't you know anything?"

"But what makes you so sure they'll let us in?" Kuwabara asks. You give him your patented wicked grin. "Because I have a plan!" You say with a certain air of arrogance.

After letting go of Hiei's hand, you shrug out of your fake leather jacket, which you toss over Yusuke's head. "Hold this for me." The haltertop you're wearing is black and compliments your figure. Combined with your black jeans, purposely messy hair and dark make-up, you look pretty damn good.

For the smallest of moments, you see a certain apparitions eyes flash possessively.

"Watch, learn and be amazed!" You state proudly and turn on your heel. With a seductive sway to your hips, you walk right past the line of people to get to the front. You wave off all the angry yells to get to the back of the line with an overly obnoxious flick of your hair.

Arriving at the bouncer, who's at least twice at tall and four times as wide as you, you come to stand right in front of him. You shift your weight to one hip and give him your most confident look. This grabs his attention.

"I want in." You practically command after a meaningful silence.

"Hey, that's not fair! She's not even twenty-one yet!" Comes an outraged yell from the line. Others in the line agree with the girl.

You raise yourself to your full, unimpressive height. "I might not be an old hag like you, but I'm the best freaking dancer here! Besides, no one asked for your brainless opinion." You bitch right back.

This, of course, escalated in the biggest catfight you had ever been in.

* * *

"So, your plan was to get floored by another girl and win the bouncer's sympathy?"

"Kurama, you don't say anything about my spectacular loss back there and I won't say anything about your Tequila Sunrise, you big sissygirl."

You're sitting in a circular booth, in between Hiei and Kurama, glaring at the redhead. Kuwabara was seated across from you, before he got asked to dance. You're not surprised, he looks pretty damn good in that button-up shirt.

There's a soundproof glasswall between the seating area and the dancefloor, so you can still talk comfortably. As you had expected, Keiko and Yusuke had disappeared into the dancing crowd as soon as you had gotten in. This was your plan too, if it wasn't for one little detail: You knew that Hiei would refuse to let you dance with anyone else, so you were foolishly counting on his company on the dancefloor. You scowl darkly at him.

Looking at you from over the top of his glass, he scowls right back. You open your mouth to tell him you want to dance for the third time, then decide against it and close your mouth. You pout at your drink, disappointed in the evening already.

"Hey there." Is whispered seductively in your ear, reminding you too much of Kin. You turn your head in a snap and come face to face with a pretty handsome, blonde human. He gives you a wide smile. "Is it okay if I keep you company?"

You shrug uncomfortably and turn back to your drink. As to what the guy is doing here, you have no clue. It's not like you're alone at the table. You feel him lean over the backrest of the booth.

"So, what have you been up to lately?" His breath warm on your ear.

"I came back from the dead yesterday." You deadpan.

He blinks at you, but quickly begins to chuckle, obviously thinking you're joking. "That must've been so scary!" He says dramatically.

"Yeah, it was. I wish there was a magical liquid that makes bad memories go away." You take a large sip of your drink, still staring straight ahead.

He laughs again and leans even closer. You swear you could feel his lips move against your skin as he talks. "You're really something! I'd love to get to know you better. Come dance with me?"

You turn your head to look at the guy, while leaning away from him. "I think it's time you left." Your tone deadserious.

His eyes widen comically, before he frowns at you. "Why? Was it something I said?"

You shake your head at him. "No. It's because my boyfriend looks just about ready to rip off one of your limbs and stuff it up your nasil cavity." You turn your head to look at a livid-looking Hiei.

Who chooses that moment to bare his teeth and snarl dangerously at your newfound friend, revealing two very sharp looking fangs. He once again displays certain skill at promising a slow, painful death with a mere look in his eyes. When you turn your head away from Hiei, the blonde is nowhere to be seen.

"And the short-tempered, firemidget strikes again!" You yell dramatically, while throwing your hands in the air.

"Have you forgotten that you're shorter than me?" Comes the monotone reply, from your side.

"Psh, you're still way too short for a guy." You say, repeating your conversation from five years ago.

From your other side, Kurama's chuckle reaches your ears. You turn to him, eyebrows raised at his amused expression.

He clears his throat. "Boyfriend?"

You glance back at Hiei, who ducks as if he'd just been slapped upside the head. Grinning wickedly, you turn back to the redhead. "Yes, boyfriend. Because he's jealous, possessive, doesn't let any other guy near me and offers certain protection. In return, I let him grope me from time to time....Meep!" You squeal as Hiei pokes you in your ticklish side and you jerk right off your seat.

"Watch it." He growls at you. You smile brightly at him, completely ignoring his warning and climb back on the couch.

After ten more minutes of sipping your drinks in silence, you can't take it anymore. You slam your empty glass back onto the table and turn to Kurama. "Please dance with me?" Your eyes begging him to comply. The redhead glances at his teammate for a moment, before getting up with a sigh.

Just as you make to follow him, a strong hand closes around your wrist like a vice. You turn back around. "Hiei, I came here to dance. Since you refuse to join me, I'll have to dance with someone else. You know Kurama won't try anything funny. Besides..." You smile at him. "You're the one I'll be going home with." You say softly, repeating the line you had once read in a cheesy romance novel.

His hand falls away from your wrist and you follow Kurama onto the dancefloor. Hiei's eyes are on you the entire time, but you know he trusts you.

As always, you let go of your restraints and simply dance the way the music makes you feel.

* * *

Flashes.

The smell of fear. Tall shadow darkens the ground. Confusion. Screams echoing. Slow heavy footsteps against many fast ones. Pain. Knife through flesh and bones. Playtime. Power rising. Energy channeled. Screams of agony. Blackened skin. The scent of death. Thick, addictive. Old man. Old flesh, ripped by long nails. Inside out. Crimson spreading, delishiously, perfectly. Rush of excitement. Desire for more. Little boy, crushing grip, have mercy, flesh splits open, bones crack, lonely arm in crimson hands. Little boy goes limp. Woman screams, thrill of pleasure, her baby's head crushed easily. Homes aflame, children trapped. Beautiful agony, lovely screams. Ends too quickly, how sad. One last look. Faces burnt, flesh torn, limbs severed, bones broken. Many victims lay still. Death remains.

Satisfaction.

Taking their lives feels so good...

* * *

Your sharp gasp is everything you hear, as you come back from the worst nightmare you have ever had. Cold sweat makes your t-shirt stick to your back and your hair stick to your face. Your heart is beating widly in your chest, the covers twisted around your legs.

It felt so real.

You wipe the sweat from your eyes and untangle your legs. On unsteady legs, you walk over to the window, before leaning your forehead against the cool glass. The chill pleasant on your heated skin. You dream about death often, but never before did the nightmare seem so vivid. Never could you remember the entire dream so well. And never were you the one doing the killing.

It felt so good.

You close your eyes with and shudder almost violently. You remember perfectly what it felt like to kill that baby. It was beautiful, the best feeling you ever had. It's the same feeling of power the Eye gave you. But you never took pleasure in that! You're sure of it. Suddenly, you notice that you're shivering. You open your eyes and stare into the dark garden.

"I have to talk to mum." You whisper to yourself. You wrap your arms around yourself for warmth and comfort.

* * *

**Prince Elmo:** Aaaah, the plot thickens!

**Yusuke:** There's a plot?

**Prince Elmo:** Yes, I write mindless crack with a plot. And in the review section, I would like to know who of you thought Jaiden was gonna be all tough and non-dork-ish and convince the bouncer to let them in? Huh, huh, huh???

* * *


	9. The Grand Stairs Of Fantastic Doom

**Prince Elmo:** For those who don't know, I changed a lot of things in Jaiden's past when I uploaded Something Wicked 2.0. Her past, with the dead parents and all, was just too dark and emo for her. A small re-cap: Her mum is very much alive, but she won't play a big part in this story. Kind of like Kurama's mum. Her dad left her mother as soon as he found out she was preggers. His whereabouts are unknown.

As you will notice, Jaiden obviously got most of her personality from her dad....

**Maria: Yu Yu Hakusho is the property of that one guy in Japan and no profit is made of these writings. They're just for fun.**

* * *

The scent of freshly baked cookies, vanilla and the sensation of your mother's clothed shoulder against your cheek. Her fragile arms crush you to herself in a tight embrace, her hands touching as much of your back as they can. It was sweet, comforting and cutting off your oxygen supply.

"Mum! Ease it up, unless you want to see me to suffocate!"

She pulls back from your embrace, tears shining brightly in her violet eyes and her soft hands cupping the face that's so similar to hers. "I'm sorry, sweetheart! I'm just glad you came back. I'm so happy you're home!"

Your mother strokes your hair for a moment, as if to prove to herself that you're really back, before pulling you close again in a hug. Distantly, you hear the guys walking out of the modest apartment and you're thankful for the privacy they give you. You wrap your arms tightly around Maria's small waist, giving her a gentle squeeze, before slowly removing yourself from her grasp.

"If it'll make you feel better, I'll try not to die again?" You offer with a lopsided grin.

A feathery light laugh. "Yes, that thought does make me feel better."

While the older woman goes into the kitchen for a drink, you curl up on your favorite spot on the couch. After a little squirming, you're perfectly seated with your legs pulled up to your chest. You look around the small, but cozy apartment, the place you once called your home. After all these years, it hasn't changed one bit, mum never liked change that much. The light, wooden furniture still stands on the same old spot. It feels like an eternity ago that you felt so safe and warm here.

It seems almost childish. Have you really grown up that much?

You're startled out of your thoughts, when a cool glass is pushed into your unresisting hands. Maria smiles at you with a gentleness you recognize as affection, seating herself on the other end of the small couch. She continues her unnerving stare, while you quietly sip your drink, utterly avoiding meeting her eyes. Suddenly, you're at a loss of words. That almost never happens to you.

"_What am I supposed to tell her?"_

"Why don't you just start at the beginning?"

And you do. You tell her everything, from beginning to end. From meeting the guys to your mysterious resurrection, the horrible dreams, leaving out everything that might hint at the thing you have with Hiei. It's not that you're ashamed of it….You don't want her to ask what it is you have, because you don't even know yourself.

"…And that's basically it…." You lower your gaze to your empty glass.

A comfortable silence follows, where your mother appears to be silently looking it over and where you try not to twitch with nerves at her verdict.

"And you love this Hiei." You blink owlishly, your mouth silently opening and closing once.

"How….?" You manage to croak out.

Her lips curve up in a small smile, her eyes glistening with an emotion you can't put a name on. "He reminds me of your father."

You feel like you've fallen face first into a freezing cold pool, while your face heats up and your stomach seemingly collapses onto itself. Your head is spinning with disbelief. It's impossible, she must be mistaken! It has to be a mistake, because how can the man you love the most be the same as the man you hate the most.

"Hiei is nothing like that bastard." You spit out venomously.

Your mother's violet gaze clashes with yours, a knowing gleam shining brightly in them. "He's coldhearted, callous, powerful. He acts like the world doesn't mean a thing to him, possibly not even his own death would move him, but we've seen the softer side. The side that's gentle, warm and caring. The side that's ready to be loved and more than happy to give love. And because others can't see it, it's all the more special to us. We crave that kind of special, as well as the constant challenge he provides."

She lowers her knowing glance to her lap. "We know that we could easily love someone else. Someone genuinely warm, with a good heart, who shows it to the outside world. A person who'd make us truly happy. But it wouldn't be the same. It would be too easy. In the end, we'd get bored and wither away in a partnership that no longer seems interesting to us."

Once again, she raises her violet eyes to yours. "We're more alike than you think, Jaiden. I know you have a love for Kurama too, a feeling of affection he seems to answer. It was just a silly crush at first and you love him now, but a relationship with him would be too easy."

You lower your head, so you can have some privacy behind a curtain of hair, but your mother brushes it back. "How do you know all this?"

"Because it was my dilemma once."

You look up, surprised. "So…You could've chosen a guy who'd still be here…"

"I made a choice back then, between my head and my heart……One that I'll never regret."

* * *

"Wait, what?!" You yell at Lord Koenma, who winces at the volume of your voice.

"I said: you still have to serve your five-year-sentence." He says very slowly as if he's talking to someone with half a brain. Which is pretty accurate, since he's talking to you. You happen to miss the sane half of your brain...

You jump up from your chair and wave your arms aimlessly in the air. "B-but....That's not fair!!"

He shuffles the papers on his desk nervously and, from what you can see, it's your file. You stomp foreward and point your finger in his face.

"I had to serve five years and those. Years. Have. Passed!!" You poke him four times on the nose with those last words.

He slaps your hand away angrily. "You were dead!!"

"Well, that wasen't my fault now, was it?! That was your fault for having crappy timing!" You bitch right back.

The rest of the gang watch this loud exchange with mild interest, like an audience watches a tennisgame. The shoutingmatch comes to a spectacular ending, when you flip over Koenma's desk in anger.

* * *

"Was that really nescessairy?" Kurama asks, while placing a pack of ice on the back of your head.

You snort at him. "You know, for such a smart guy, you sure ask a lot of stupid questions." You take the icepack from him.

The two of you are seated in Genkai's backyard. The sun is shining and there's a gentle breeze making the grass sway hypnotically. The redhead is sitting right across from you.

"The only good thing about being dead was that I didn't have to serve Koenma's stupid sentence...." You mutter to yourself.

He gives you a gentle smile. "You know you deserved that punishment. Besides, was it really that bad?"

You shift uncomfortably and start to rip the grass out. "I just don't understand what he still needs me for. I've never been much of a fighter, that hasn't really improved during my death and I'm not exactly the brightest bulb in the box either."

Kurama reaches forward and covers your busy hand with his. You look up. "But we've all seen the things you are capable of when you put your mind to it. You could be a very valuable member of the team, if you'd just work hard and get in shape."

You grimace at him and take the icepack off your head to play with it. "I don't have the discipline to work hard. I'm too lazy."

"We will just have to work on that." He gives you a wide smile and you can't help but smile back.

"Why do you even bother?" You roll your eyes at him through your affectionate smile.

"Because I have faith in you."

"Ugh, no! I hate it when people have faith in me! Nothing good ever comes of it!!" You lets yourself fall backwards into the grass, away from his annoying laughter.

* * *

You knew that Kurama would always be true to his word, no matter what. You knew that he was going to make you work hard on discipline, getting in shape and your poor fighting skills. You just never knew that training with him would be like entering the Seventh Circle of Hell.

Meaning that he's making you run up and down Genkai's Stairs of Fantastic Doom.

"I hate you!" You snarl with as much venom as you can muster in your exhausted state. Sweat is running down your back in a steady stream, your cheeks are flushed and your entire body is trembling with effort in order to stay upright.

Your rage flares even more at his amused chuckle. "Now, now, Jaiden! There's no need to get resentful. You know this is for your own good. Besides, we've only been back and forth twice."

You mimic his voice under your breath in a childish kind of way. "Why do I even listen to you?!"

His Rose Whip cracks dangerously behind you. "Oh, now I remember...." You're not sure if he'd actually use it, but you're not too eager to find out either.

You drag your numb legs up the last few steps and fall forward onto the soft, warm grass. You lay there, gasping for breath, unable and unwilling to move another inch. The redhead simply sits down next to you, not even the slightest bit exhausted.

After a ten second pause: "You're only doing this so you won't have to carry me up those stairs again, aren't you?"

Instead of answering you, he only pats you on the shoulder and offers you a mysterious smile.

* * *

More flashes.

Different scenery. Black trees, dancing shadows. Panic. Little girl, scream of agony. Skin ripped away from bones. Hum of pleasure. Crimson dripping. So lovely. Perfection. Please, don't kill me. Mercy? Death is mercy. Small skull cracks beneath fingers. Thick blood. Beautiful colour. Spilling over the hand. Disemboweled. The smell of blood. Limbs are frozen. Flesh pierced. Bodies torn to pieces. Dark red colours the earth. Delightful death. So very sad, it's over...

Rapid heartbeat. Hidden child! Surge of pleasure, playtime continues! Pale face, another plea. Bone snaps, long nails cut pale flesh. Screams, fantastic. Mother and father? Bloody finger points. Two corpses, muscle, bone in clear sight. Skinned alive. Tears roll over cheeks. Eyes? Sharp nail ends his sight. Another echoing scream. Hmmmm. Blood rolls over cheeks. Attractive. Satisfying. Surge of power, fire on his head. Mouth screams, legs run, flesh turns black. Heavy smell fills the air. Goosebumps, so delightful. Burning body falls. But twitches. Magnificent. All too soon, it ends.

But it was heavenly for as long as it lasted.

* * *

You find yourself in the same situation as yesterday night: breathless, sweaty and tangled in your covers. Your skin crawls at the memory of the parents' screams when you tore their skin on their bones. The beauty of their thick blood dripping sluggishly on the ground. In a blur, you're in the bathroom and emptying your stomach in the toilet.

Leaning heavily against the cool stone, you shudder once more. The feeling of exstacy that killing that family brought with it, still runs widly through your system. Never have you felt so alive!

You're torn between this feeling of excitement and feelings of dread and disgust. How can it be that all of these conflicting emotions belong to one person? You surprise yourself as you dry-heave, hot tears gathering in your eyes.

"_What the hell is wrong with me?!__ I've never killed anyone! Why do I dream this? Does all that evil belong to me?"_

Shaky legs barely support you, as you automatically go to the one person you need the most right now. You barely even think about your destination, not until you're right outside his bedroomdoor.

* * *

**Prince Elmo: **Even Jaiden gets truly angry sometimes, but mostly only when it comes to her dad. I really like her mum. : )

**Hiei:** (holds up a sign) Will kill for reviews.

* * *


	10. The Grand Stairs And Hiei's Abs

**Prince Elmo:** Let the insanity blow your mind, BOOGITY BOOGITY BAAAAAAAHHHHHH!! (flails her arms and runs around in circles)

**Kurama: Unolai owns nothing.....**Someone please call the guys in the white coats......

* * *

You swallow thickly, suddenly very nervous. He probably already knows you're there, but you linger outside his door anyway. You hesitate. After all, what good can _he_ do against a bad dream?

You lean your forehead against the wood of his door and close your eyes to collect your thoughts. Immediatly, the image of the little girl with the crushed skull flashes behind your eyelids. A trail of blood runs over her pale, fragile skin, in between her cold blue eyes. With a start, you open your moist eyes and gasp sharply. You shudder with disgust, goosebumps clearly visible on your skin. You turn the handle and give the door a little shove.

What little light comes in from the window, illuminates a perfect square on the bed. You don't even have to squint your eyes to spot the figure under the covers. The thought of him prefering beds above trees after all randomly runs through your mind.

You fidget with the hem of your t-shirt as his bloodred eyes lock with yours. "I....I had a really bad dream."

Even to your own ears, your voice sounds pathetic and whiney and you lower your gaze to the floor, unable to keep looking him in the eye. Faintly, you feel him make connection with your mind and you allow him to enter. After not even a second, he pulls back again.

Your eyes snap up again, when you hear his covers rustle. Convinced that he was making his way out of bed to drag you back to yours, you need a few seconds to realise what you see.

Hiei is holding his covers up in the air.

Without another thought, you dash forward and dive under his arm. You squirm for a minute, but quickly settle with your back tightly pressed against his sleep-warmed body. His breath fanning the fine hairs on your neck, his hand cupping your head under your pillow. When he lowers the covers around you and his arm comes to rest around your waist, you can already feel yourself slipping away in a peaceful slumber.

Your last coherent thought is how his bed seems so much warmer, softer and more inviting than yours....

* * *

The next morning, you're desoriëntated when you wake up in a room you've never seen before. Before you can even panic, you remember where you are._ "Hiei let me sleep in his bed...."_

Who could've known that you were capable of such a stupid looking grin?

Not until after you've turned your head into the pillow and inhaled Hiei's scent, do you realise how creepy sniffing someone bedlinnen really is. No matter how pleasant the smell of warm sand is. The next realisation is that Hiei's arm is missing from your waist. That deathgrip he had on you felt nice and you kind of miss it. You blindly reach behind you to pull him back against you.

Your hand only comes in contact with the mattress. The cold mattress.

Sitting up, you frown at the empty spot beside you. Or more like 'around you'. In your sleep you seem to have taken advantage of the kingsize bed and moved to the absolute middle.

Hiei is nowhere to be seen.

You place your indexfinger on your chin in thought._ "Hmmm, let's see. Stay in Hiei's heavenly bed or go through his stuff.....God! Like trying to choose between a Happy Meal and a McChicken!" _

You decide to stay in Hiei's bed a little while longer....After finding out his closet is empty, of course! Just when you're in an excelent position to go back to sleep, there's a knock at the door.

"Excuse me, Hiei. Have you seen Jaiden? She didn't show up for practise this morning."

"_Gee, I can't imagine why!"_ You hold your breath and stay perfectly still.

Another knock. "Hiei?"

After a short pause, you hear Kurama walk away. You let out the breath you were holding. You wait for what seems an eternity, before you decide that it's safe. With stealth you never knew you possessed, you creep out from under the covers and tip-toe towards the door.

After carefully peeking out, you sneak out of the room and softly close the door behind you. _"Ha ha! Victory is mine! Wooo!"_

Suddenly, a hand is clapped on your shoulder. "Aha! I thought I heard sarcastic thoughts!"

With a high frequence, girly shriek, you clutch your chest, leap from Kurama's grasp and accidentily jump right into the wall. The redhead leans over you as you lay on your back on the hard, wooden floor. "Jaiden, how many fingers am I holding up?"

"You just made me bump into a wall. Who cares about your stupid fingers?!" You slap his hand away and sit up, slightely light-headed. "How did you know I was in there anyway?" He gives you one of his patented disarming smiles as he helps you up. "I could hear you....Demons have more sensitive hearing than humans." He explains at your disbelieving stare.

With a firm hand on your lower back, he guides you back to your room. "Besides, Hiei told me you slept in his bed last night because of a nightmare."

You make a small noise in the back of your throat. Arriving at your bedroomdoor, Kurama turns to you. "There's no need to be embarrassed, everybody gets scared sometimes. Even if it is because of something as silly as a dream." You chew your bottom lip.

"Now go and get dressed, we have training to do." He says as he turns to walk away.

"Yeah, I wouldn't want to miss that." You mutter sarcastically under your breath.

"I heard that."

"Stupid demons and their stupid superior hearing..."

* * *

You didn't know it was possible, but the trainingsession was even more grueling than yesterday's session. Not because Kurama made you do something harder. No, you had to do the same thing: run up and down those stupid stairs.

There was just the fact of Hiei showing up half-way through, shirtless, sweat gleaming on his tight muscles and a cocky grin on his lips as he caught you staring. Yum...

This caused you to loose your concentration and fall painfully down the stairs. All the way down.

Kurama had commented that you had never gotten down those stairs quicker. You could only groan weakly in response. With another dumb grin on your face, you figured seeing Hiei looking so yummy was worth the pain.

As you lie in bed, careful not to move so much, you concentrate on Hiei and hope this will keep you from having a bad dream.

You are wrong...

* * *

The flashes again.

No, not again. Everything crimson. The smell of death, sense of thrill. Please stop. A severed head in a bloody hand. Mother's blood in her baby's crib. Disgust, delight, distress, perfection. Baby cries. Shadow darkens the baby. Blood drips on pale child. Beautiful contrast. It fades. Fight it! Small body, held in large palm. It closes around it. No! The cries grow weaker. Stop! Child goes quiet. NO!! Stop it, now! Rush of power, confusion, taking over. The hand puts the child down. What's this? Stop killing! The child weeps. A presence? Never do it again! GET OUT! A devastating pain. Blood on upperlip.

And you scream.

* * *

**Prince Elmo:** I wonder what's the deal with those stupid dreams. And in related news: (sinks teeth possessively in Hiei's neck) RAWR!!

**Kurama:** (Holds up a sign) Will twirl my Rose Whip around like a lasso and shout "Yeehaw!" for reviews.


	11. Hello Kitty!

**Prince Elmo:** Ladies and homo's, it seems that yesterday something amazing happened.

**Hiei:** You finally decided to leave me the hell alone?

**Prince Elmo:** Good guess, but no. It seems that I've broken through my writers block YAY!! Yesterday, I finished one of the (at least) two lemons I've been planning! The content is still raw and unedited, so I desperately need to go over it with dumbrat, but it's there! Isn't this exciting?? And to celebrate, I'll give you girls this chapter. (does the crazy happy dance)

**Hiei:** (reads from card) **Unolai owns nothing even remotely related to Yu Yu Hakusho. If she did, Hiei would be taller and Kurama shirtless more often.....**(scowls) And what is THAT supposed to mean....?

* * *

Your scream is effectively silenced against a warm, comforting shoulder, as you sit up on your bed. Powerful arms hold you still against a firm chest. The horrible images of your nightmare burn brightly in your mind, so clear and lucid. With a barely repressed sob, you clutch the stranger and bury your face in his neck. His warm hand runs comforting up and down your spine while you try to catch your breath. Distantly, you hear people walking through your bedroom door. "What's going on?"

You look up, over his shoulder at Yusuke, Kurama and Kuwabara. "She had another nightmare." Hiei's deep voice rumbles through your chest, a very pleasant sensation. You turn your face back into his neck for comfort.

"_Why am I the only on__e who gets scared by some stupid dream?? Why can't I be scared of my shadow or my reflection like normal people?" _As you wrap your arms around his waist, his hands come to rest on your cold, clammy back. The guys exchange a few words, but you zone out after barely five words.

Before you know it, you're being coaxed out of bed and to your feet. With his hands firmly on your upper arms, Hiei gently leads you to the bathroom, where he guides you to sit on the edge of the bath. You sit there dumbly, not knowing what to do with yourself and watch Hiei disappear back into your bedroom. You zone out while staring at the reflection of the lamp on the white tiles, a heavy feeling settling behind your eyes. "_It felt so real.....Why do I keep dreaming this? Why now?....I feel so stupid for being scared....Maybe my own death has a bigger effect on me than I'm willing to admit....Ugh! Stupid dreams....Stupid death....Stupid trees!"_

You startle out of your daze, when a clean t-shirt it pushed into your unresisting hands.

"Put this on." Comes the command. His back is turned to you as he holds a washcloth under the cold water.

The clammy t-shirt in your hand is swiftly replaced with a cool washcloth, which you thankfully run over your face and under you nose. The now bloody cloth is thrown in the trash. A few minutes later, you return to your crispy clean bed. You settle on your side, with the blankets wrapped around you and eyes wide open. _"Someone changed the sheets."_

Just as you mentally prepare yourself to lie there all night long, pretending to be asleep, you feel the bed dip in behind you. You're about to sigh in relief that you won't be alone, when Hiei grabs you by the hips and roughly yanks you backwards over the mattress.

"Hey!!"

Before you know it, you once again find yourself in the same position as you were last night: your back against his chest and his arm around your waist in a deathgrip. You roll your eyes.

"You could've just scooted up to me, you know..." A light shiver runs through you, when Hiei nuzzles the back of your neck. "Hn."

His arm tightens around you for the fraction of a second and suddenly, it's like there's a thick blanket wrapped around your mind. Your sarcastic comment dies on your lips, as you instantly drift off into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

"I hate you!" You found yourself snarling, everytime you were forced to endure Kurama's latest method of torture. It has been two weeks since your last nightmare and a week since Kurama stopped going easy on you.

He'd drag you out of bed at the crack of dawn, before it's humanly impossible to preform any kind of physical labour and forced you to run up and down those god-damned stairs. As soon as he had found out that that wasen't exhausting you anymore, he had given you two buckets of water to carry.

Stupid Kurama and his stupid superior intelligence.

At the end of the day, you'd collapse into bed, where you slept your dreamless sleep in Hiei's arms. Who would always be gone in the morning, when Kurama would come and get you again.

Then this cycle begins all over again.

It's not that you're not happy with these new sleeping arrangements, in fact, you're quite pleased with them.....It's just that those "sleeps" Hiei forces on you to keep the nightmares away, are more exhausting than teaching the firedemon how to square-dance...

Combined with the fact that Kurama's training reached a whole new level of gruesome, made you slightely unpleasant.

Meaning that you're as hyper as a five-year-old taking a dip in Willy Wonka's chocolate river.

Lack of rest does that to you...

* * *

"Hello Kitty! Play with us today! We'll laugh and sing on this lovely sunny day! All your friends, they wait for you. Ready to run and play! Everyone will gather 'round, this is what they'll say: When we see your friendly smile, you brighten up our day!"

You cheerfully sing and dance your way across the lawn. The sun is beaming down at you and pleasantly warms your bare shoulders. Your short black with violet hair fans out, as you spin on the tip of your toes. You giggle delighted, as a slight breeze caresses your body.

The clear, blue sky winks down at you and the swaying grass seems to have joined you in your dance.

With a goofy smile, you fall backwards onto the grass. You stretch like a cat and fully appreciate the morning off Kurama gave you.

Nothing is better than this. The sun on your face, the cool grass against your back, the peace and quiet--"Jaiden!! Put on some clothes and get back inside!!" And Kurama, who is screaming like a girl...

"In_ that_ specific order...?"

* * *

You look up from your book as Yusuke walks into the living room. The place where Kurama forced you to stay after a certain, ahem, incident. "Hey, guys! Get up, we've got a mission!"

Within the blink of an eye, you have tackled Hiei to the ground and attached yourself to him. "No! Don't leave me! Who will take care of my childish needs when you're gone?! Who will protect me from certain evil?! And, more importantly, who will pre-warm my bed?! Noooo!" You wail dramatically.

Hiei, who's looking very harrassed, is desperately trying to get you off.

"Jaiden, I said that _we_ have a mission." Yusuke slowly explains, catching your attention. You pay for this momentairy lack of concentration, as you're flung across the room.

With a grunt, you land upside down on the couch Kurama just stood up from, which topples over with a loud thud, making you land on painfully on your butt. Of course. "Ouch! That's mean, Hiei!"

After straightening up, you frown at Yusuke. "I heard you the first time, you know. Just be careful, okay? And hurry back, because my ADHD is bound to leave marks on this house if you leave me alone too long."

You make to walk away, when he grabs you by the wrist. "No, _we_ have to go. _We_ have a mission."

"I _know_!" You scowl.

"We as in 'All of us', Jaiden!"

"I know!! Stop rubbing it in, asshole!"

With a very uncharacteristic growl, Yusuke turns around and starts to drag you out of Genkai's house. "What are you doing?!"

You tug your wrist from his hand and kick him in the shin as hard as you can. Behind you, Kurama clears his throat. "He means that you're coming with us, Jaiden."

Turning away from Yusuke, who's rubbing his leg and shouting profanities, you blink owlishly at the redhead.

"That isn't just 'no', that's 'Hell NO!'. Forget about it, it's not happening. No way in seven hell. Not today, not tomorrow, not twelve days from now, never. No!" You calmly rant after a ten second pause.

"And may I ask why not?"

You cross your arms over your chest. "I have no proper fightingskills, since I haven't been properly trained. And just so you know, I'm blaming you for that."

"Are you saying that it's my fault?"

"No, I said I was blaming you."

"Shut up and walk!" Yusuke suddenly growls at you. He once again grabs you by the wrist and starts to drag you off.

"Hey, stop it! Just what am I supposed to defend myself with, huh wiseguy?! Karate? Kung Fu? My cheesy one-liners and a Celine Dion CD?!"

A very angry looking Yusuke turns to you and thrusts a small dagger in your unresisting hands. "Do you know how to use this?!"

".....The pointy end goes into the other guy, right?"

"Great, let's go!"

* * *

"Let me get this straight. We're supposed to round up a demon who's been building a big ass army to take over the Demon World and rule supreme?"

Kurama gives you a nod. "Yes, that's right."

"Where did all of the creative bad guys go...?" You roll your eyes. Apparently, that kind of bad guy doesn't flock to an old castle, located on a hill, which is surrounded with creepy trees and cheesy lightening. All that's missing is a toilet-paper mummy and a solid plastic skeleton over in the corner. You can't help but scowl at the ridiculous choice of setting. "Lame sauce!"

Kuwabara gives you a slight chuckle and a pat on the shoulder. With eyes still on the creepy castle that just screams 'Evil Lair Here', you follow the guys down the path that leads to the front gate.

_"Hey, I'm going down a path that leads up to a front gate....That's funny....Funny as in, stupid.....Just like these trees....Why did Hiei have to bring his stupid cloak?! Now I can't even entertain myself.....Oh, a squirrel!.....At least....I think it was a squirrel...Why do I keep running into squirrels?"_

You direct Yusuke with a sceptic look. "So, we're just going to sneak up on this guy whilst going through the _front gate_?"

He scowls at you. "Yeah, that's the plan. This guy can't be tougher than anything else we've faced so far..."

"Can I ask a question?"

"If you have to..." He sighs.

"Does this guy know we're coming?"

Yusuke frowns at you. "No, I don't think so."

"How can he not know?! Doesn't he have a head?? We're going through the front gate, for crying out loud!" You yell, while throwing your hands in the air for emphasise.

When no one responds to you, you settle for making a rap about everything you see, complete with very fake-sounding beats. Not that you even have the slightest talent for rapping or anything.

"Check it out, okay! Who am I? I am the shit, amongst all this darkness here! I walk with a twist in my hips, cuz I don't know no fear! These trees are stupid, they are plotting against me. I know this for sho', for there's nothing I don't see! In, out, beat 'em easy! High-five, baby baby! People call me dumb, don't call me dumb, cuz I am the BOMB!" You yell that last word on the top of your lungs and fake the sound of an explosion.

This was too much for Yusuke to take. He clapped a hand over your mouth and roughly dragged your struggling form the rest of the way. Arriving at the black iron gate, you finally manage to wrestle your wrists free from Yusuke's grasp and angrily turn to Hiei. "You could've helped me, you know!"

The firedemon instantly pulls his katana from its sheath and widens his stance to deliver a deadly blow. "That's better!"

Without answering you, he whizzes past you in a blur of black and you jump at the unusually loud sound of metal hitting metal.

_CLANG!_

You whip around on your heels, just in time to see one half of the iron gate fall backwards onto the mossy stones behind it. Watching as it seems to fall in slow-motion, you wince at the second loud sound of the rusty gate hitting the road. "Well....If he didn't know we were coming before, he certainly knows now."

Sheathing his sword with a "Hn.", Hiei leads the way up to the castle. You carefully step over the fallen metal, before following him, the others trailing behind you. From up close, the castle looked less and less like a cheap horror-house ride and more and more like the haunted house on the hill where the chainsaw-wielding killer is ready to jump out of chop you into pieces any given second. It really freaks you out.

_"Maybe I should stop watching those awesome Asian horror movies.....They make me nervous......And suspicious of little girls with long black hair....."_

You fight the sudden cold by wrapping your arms around yourself and moving closer to the forever-and-ever-warm Hiei, who gives you a slightly annoyed look that you answer with a beaming smile. A minute or two later, you're standing in front of a very mouldy looking door. It's made out of dark wood, with brass knockers and it's covered in a very suspicious looking green fuzz.

"Hey, look! It's the gateway to Hell! I wonder if there's a gift shop full of Satan-themed snow globes nearby." You mutter to yourself, while curiously poking one of the greenish stains.

Then you squeal and hysterically flap your hand as the green stuff comes off and attaches itself onto your fingers.

Laying his large hand on the handle, Kuwabara gives it a tug to open the door, only to end up holding the rusty piece of metal in his hand. "How are we supposed to get in?"

"Hey, we have Hiei the Walking, Talking Storm Ram, don't we?" You jerk your thumb the demon next to you. "Go for it, tiger!" You yell, while punching him on the upper arm.

After sending you a dark scowl, Hiei proves that even mouldy old doors are no match for him, just like old, iron fences. You squint your eyes in the suffocating darkness, as you step into the smelly room. All the windows seem to have been boarded up from the inside, leaving no opportunity for any light inside. No fresh air either.

"Yuck! And this must be what Hell _smells_ like!"

A bit nervous at the total darkness, you clutch the back of Kurama's shirt close to you. You figure that with his 'superior senses' he'll be able to navigate his way around without bumping into things.

"Cowering behind Kurama already? We're not even close yet!" Yusuke's taunting voice comes from behind you.

"Hey! I'm a girl, I can cower behind people bigger than myself all I want!"

You shuffle forward, following Kurama's footsteps. The only sound you hear is your own breathing. For what seems like hours, you meekly follow in the redheads wake. No matter how wide you open your eyes, you can't see a thing.

"Can't we make a fi--" You're rudely interrupted as you bump into the sudden motionless body in front of you. "What's wrong?"

Reaching back, the Kurama's warm hand closes around your cold one. "Shhh!"

You tense up and hold your breath, listening closely to the sounds around you. Kurama's soft breathing, a foot that shifts over the dusty floor, distant sound of water dripping....

_CLANG!_

Jumping at the metallic sound, you barely have time to react as the floor drops away beneath your feet. Your breath leaves you in a rush, your hair whipping wildly around your head as you fall. A cold, numb feeling immediately comes over you. With a jolt of panic, you feel yourself slip from Kurama's grasp. Your desperate attempts to hold on prove in vain, suddenly you're alone in your fall. You finally find your voice to scream, before you harshly collide with something hard and solid.

You pass out. Of course you do....

* * *

**Prince Elmo:** I suddenly remembered I had never made Jaiden go streaking before....She's not exactly body-shy....(grins)


	12. Dance The Funky Chicken

**Prince Elmo:** This is it, ladies. This is as much as I've written so far. Even though my writer's block is slowly evaporating, it could take me a while to write the next chapter and I beg for your patience. I do intend to finish this story, but I need time. I hope you understand. -bows-

**Don't own a damn thing.**

* * *

_Drip.....Drip.....Drip.....Drip...._

You groan as you're slowly pulled back into consciousness. Something bone-chilling cold is dripping onto your throbbing temple, only to roll over your face in sluggish drops. You quickly roll onto your back to get away from it. The smell of earth and dust invades your senses, the ground you're laying on is smooth and strangely warm. Your entire body is wrapped in a dull ache, like you ran a marathon, making your thought process all the slower. But then, all of the sudden, you remember how you got there.

"_We fell."_

With another groan, you carefully open your eyes. To your utter surprise, you're greeted with an actual ceiling, instead of total darkness. You blink a couple of times, before gently sitting up.

As it turns out, you are lying in what seems like an underground room. The air is cool, damp and stuffy. There are no windows or torches to light it, but there are strange markings on the wall that give off a faint, yellow glow. It kind of looks like some foreign incantation, written in long, swirly letters.

You're alone.

At the opposite side of the wall, there's a hole in the ceiling above a steep pile of white sand. "That must've broken my fall....."

Getting up, you approach a wall and run a hand over the glowing marks, which are on nose-height for you. They feel warm to the touch. When you pull back, there's a fine film of glowing dust on your hand.

You find that, besides the hole in the ceiling, there's only one way out; meaning the wooden door on the opposite end of the room. Next thing you know, you're walking through a large tunnel. The scent of warm earth is mixed with the smell of mould, old blood and decay. You wrinkle your nose in disgust. The room you woke up in was perfect and pristine, but the tunnels look like they're been through several wars. There are bones lying here and there, in large stains of dried blood, some stones missing from the walls, lying shattered in pieces, other stones have been blackened by fire.

It looks like hurricane Jaiden has been raging here for a couple of hours.

Most of the beautiful incantations on the wall are broken in half by large cracks, others have completely peeled away. The ones that still work prevent you from being plunged into total darkness.

All fine and well, it's not like you care, but there's just nothing there to distract your ADHD.

"I'm cold.....And alone.....And talking to myself......And I hate cheese, but that's totally besides the point.....Cheese....So pointless.....What good do holes have in food, anyway?! Holes do not belong in food, unless you're eating a donut....And how dare they leave me alone?!" You stomp your foot for emphasise.

"I'm _so_ glueing the remote to the top of the tv...."

Then you stumble in your step, as the ground below your feet softly starts to tremble. That trembling turns into an outright shaking; you lean both hands against the wall for support. Something large and heavy seems to be charging in your general direction.

Large and heavy most often means large, heavy, pissed off and looking for people to eat with some ketchup and a salad on the side.

After a short-version of your sarcastic-happy-dance, you ask yourself: "Do I really want to know what's around the corner?"

After a deep sigh and a venomous glare towards the ceiling, you poke your head around the bend.

And freeze on the spot.

You can only gawk as an entire, freaking army of dangerous-looking demons comes charging at you at high speed. They're screaming, growling, snarling, foaming at the mouth, waving various sharp, pointy weapons above their ugly, deformed heads.

You blink stupidly.

Then take a careful count:  
Ten-thousand demons.  
One dagger.

"...Crap."

Your high-pitched squeal bounces off the walls, as you spin on your heels and bolt in the opposite direction. "Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap!!"

Heavily damaged, off-white walls fly past as you run for dear life. The growls and snarls coming from behind you sound like they're coming closer and closer. You wish they'd just go away. You wish Kurama hadn't gone easy on you during your training, so you could at least have the stamina to outrun these monsters.

You wish you had some Red Bull. Red Bull gives you wings!

In a burst of random inspiration, you dive into a crack in the wall that's barely big enough to hide your small figure. Squeezing you eyes tightly shut, you cover your ears, clench your jaw and wait for the thundering footsteps to pass you by.

The sounds are deafening.

You clutch your ears tighter.

A small eternity later, the footsteps fade away and you carefully crawl out of your hiding spot. Despite the excellent light in this part of the tunnel, no one saw you. Standing on shaky legs, you breathe out a sigh of relief. "Thank god no one saw me....Are they blind or something??"

As if on cue, a low threatening growl sounds out from behind you.

"The smell of unwashed socks tells me that isn't Hiei...." You mutter to yourself. With a heavy feeling of dread, you slowly turn on the spot.

There, standing in the middle of the hallway with a gigantic axe in his hand, is one of the monsters that were chasing you. He's huge, at least three times as tall and four times as wide as you, filling up nearly the entire passage with just his frame alone. He's completely made out of rock solid muscles.

"Oh, sure! Were the bigger monsters all off duty??"

Judging by the way he's gripping his weapon and snarling at you, you figure that he's either angry or hungry. Which is both bad. You giggle nervously.

"Errrm....I was just looking for the little girls room?"

A deafening pissed off growl.

"Fine! I'll hold it in! You don't have to be an asshole about it!!"

You look the monster directly in his sickening-green eyes and glare right back at him. The ridge above his eyes, where a human's eyebrows would be, raises slightly in curiosity. You offer him a mysterious grin, before reaching for the back of your belt where you stowed Yusuke's dagger.

Clutching the small handle, you pull it from its sheath with a dramatic swing of your arm. Your knuckles turn white, as you squeeze the handle tight. His eyes never leave yours, not even when you raise the dagger high above your head. It's like nothing can distract him from you.

It's a battle of will. Each one trying to make the other succumb.

You're tempted to whistle that tune from Kill Bill.

In an unexpected move from your side, you twist the small weapon in your grasp, making the light catch it and effectively blinding the monster momentarily. Within the blink of an eye, you've thrown the knife at him as hard as you can, only to run in the other direction without waiting to see if you hit him.

A pain filled screech lets you know that you've at least hit some part of him. Is that a great aim, or what??

...But then again, the guy was huge, so missing him would've been more impressive...

You run as fast as you can through the battered corridors. Several wooden doors pass you by, but you pay no attention to them, until you come across one with a faint light coming out from underneath it. With one last glance backwards, you carefully open the door. Next thing you know, you're standing in front of narrow, steep, seemingly endless stairs.

"Surprise, surprise! There's enough money to build an underground maze, but not enough to install an escalator. Stupid people and their stupid obsession with stairs...."

A light coming from the top bathes everything in a soft yellow glow. The steps look solid and smooth, very much like the room you woke up in. With a deep sigh, you start your ascend. Before you know it, you're at the top and you didn't even break a sweat! You smile brightly and do a funky dance on the spot.

"Wow, I guess that nonsense crap Kurama keeps putting me through actually pays off!" Then you frown. "Must prevent the fox from ever finding out...."

There's a large mark on the wall, next to another door, that's giving off a strong pulsating glow. Its way bigger and extravagant than the ones in the corridors, which must be the reason it gives off more light.

Opening the door, you carefully peek around the edge.

And then blink rapidly at the sudden bright light.

The sun is shining, the birds are singing and you're wondering where the heck you are.

"Okay....I'm in a fairytale forest.....Why do I suddenly expect to be dusted off by cute forest animals before bursting into song and dance about my spectacular escape? Stupid Disney movies..."

Turning on the spot, you look back at where you came from. It would've been a completely normal and boring rock, if it wasn't for the wooden door attached to one side. You cross your arms over your chest. "What am I supposed to do now?"

After five minutes of staring at the trees, you're convinced that the trees are staring back and you decide to start walking. You quickly find a sandy path leading through the forest.

"I really hate trees....They always win when it comes to staring contests." You mutter to yourself, while twirling a lock of your hair around your finger. Despite your annoyance at the trees and the fact that you're lost, you can't help a happy feeling from bubbling up. Must be because the sun is shining brightly down upon you, which is a great improvement from those stuffy corridors.

You start to skip, while humming The Ting Tings happily.

Then you start doing cartwheels, just because you can. "That's not my name! That's not my name! That's not my name! They call me 'Quiet girl', but I'm a 'riot'....Hey, hang on! Isn't it the other way around for me...?"

Just as you're wildly playing your air guitar during the imaginary musical-bridge, a soft noise makes you freeze. Soft noises shouldn't be weird; you're in a forest after all. But this noise sounds so out of place.

You tip your head to the side to listen, a lock of deep violet falling into your matching eyes.

There it is again! A soft, almost rhythmic rustling.

As silently as you can, you sneak over to the edge of the path and tightly press your back against a tree.

The rustling stops.

With one hand firmly on the rough surface of the tree, you slowly back up to stand behind it. Your eyes shooting from one side to the other. The forest seems to have gone completely silent, as you listen for that weird rustling. Your shoes make no sound among the grass.

Suddenly, you're under attack!

* * *

**Prince Elmo:** Jaiden sure does run around and pass out a lot. Maybe because she runs around, slams into stuff and hits her head.....Idiot....

**Puu:** Puu!

**Prince Elmo:** I think that means: "Don't kill the author for the evil cliffhanger, please."


	13. Jaiden Gets Angry

**Prince Elmo:** (falls to her knees) Don't kill me! I know it's been, like, forever, but I've got some good excuses! My personal life has been rather rocky, my writer's block still hasn't let up, _dumbrat_ is hard to get a hold off and I refuse to upload un-BETA'd chapters and I just don't know how to continue this story anymore...I'm so very sorry about keeping you waiting. I honestly mean that!

**Hiei:** (hands out rotten fruit to the readers)

**Prince Elmo:** ...You like seeing me in pain, don't you?

**Hiei:** Your damn fault for making them wait.

**Prince Elmo: I own nothing!** (cowers behind umbrella)

* * *

"Meep!"

Just as you stepped behind the tree, someone tripped you from behind! You fall, your denim-clad legs towards the sky and a restrictive arm wraps around your waist to keep you still. You've been captured! You flail your arms around wildly to attack your captor, your fists connecting with solid flesh.

"Let me go!" You shout almost hysterically.

"Ouch! Hey! Stop that!" Comes your captor's deep, hypnotic voice.

A large, strong hand captures both your wrists with ease and it's enough to startle you into opening your eyes again. You find yourself laying on your back, sideways and rather comfortably across a guy's lap.

And not just _any_ guy!

"Oh my god, you're like...psycho pretty!" You gasp out before you can stop yourself.

The almond-shaped, grey eyes that are currently fixed on you, fill with mirth at your shameless outburst; full lips curve into a handsome, lopsided grin. His short, black spiked hair slants erratically over his forehead, fixed in a way you can only call 'charming bed-head'.

If your attraction for Hiei didn't run as deep as it does, you'd totally do him.

Right here, right now.

"Err...I-I'd like to get up now..." This mystery guy merely smiles at you and helps you to your feet, before getting up himself. He's attractive, definitely in Kurama's league of prettiness. Combined with his tall frame, deep voice and broad shoulders, he embodies just about everything you ever dreamed of as a little girl. You can't help but blush hotly.

"Are you alright? You fell quite hard, even though I broke most of your fall." His tone light and teasing.

You flap your shaking hands nervously. "Oh, don't worry about me! I fall down all the time, almost daily even. It sure does explain a lot doesn't it?" Shaky laugh. "How about you? Are you alright...?"

He smiles, making your belly flutter. "I'm Reizo."

"Ah! And I'm Jaiden." With a shaky smile, you offer him your hand to shake. Instead, he brings it up to his lips to press a soft kiss to your knuckles.

"_Must...Not...Squee..."_

"Are you lost?"

"Yes! I lost my friends and now I can't find my way back." You feel a strange pang of guilt at the thought of Hiei. The sudden change in your mood must've shown obviously on your face, because Reizo is frowning at you.

"Well, if it upsets you this bad, I can bring you to the edge of the forest."

You jump up and smile brightly at the stranger. "You can?"

His handsome face lights up with an answering smile as he nods at you.

"I love you," you say earnestly, "I adore you. Leave your home and run away with me to Bora Bora. We'll change our names, get tans and have wild sex on the beach every day."

Reizo laughs out loud at your bold exclamation, before turning around. "We need to go in this direction. It will take us to a stream, that leads out of the forest and into the nearby village."

The mystery man leads you through the forest seemingly effortless, weaving through the trees and through the bush, as you try to shake off your nervousness.

"_I'm nervous around a guy? When's the last time THAT happened?"_

Reizo seems very polite and civilized, as he tells you about the village ahead and its history. "It actually used to be a very rich and flourishing city, full of life and happiness. It was so for years. But that all changed when an evil man with dark intentions came and destroyed everything they had build. What he wanted exactly is still unknown to this day. Thankfully, the man was killed and the city was rebuild, but it was never the same as before."

"Do you live there?"

He smiles, eyes softening. "No, I live here in the forest. I wish I did though…."

"You can always move."

He smiles again, a wry smile this time. "I wish it was that easy…..Well, here we are!"

You follow Reizo's gaze to a medium sized, rundown village, surrounded by trees. The houses are all small and grey, with blood-red rooftops and missing stones here and there. In the middle of the circular-build village lies a strange pile of rubble, stark white and misplaced. The silence is overwhelming; there's not a living thing in sight. No people, no animals, nothing.

"Thanks for bringing me here, but there are no people - -" You stop mid-sentence, as you turn around to find Reizo gone. After scanning the line of trees, you figure that Reizo must've decided that you can handle it on your own now.

"It would've been nice if he'd just said goodbye…."

With a bounce in your step, you make your way down to the seemingly abandoned village in search of people. If you can find people, you can find the guys. "Hello-o! Villagers! Damsel in distress here! Need help to find my posse! Whoohoo? Anybody home?"

Your own voice echoes and bounces off the empty streets. Just when you're about to call out again, something in the corner of the street, almost hidden by shadows, catches your eye. It's an odd, crimson covered doll. The sight of it alone is enough to silence you. You approach it slowly, hypnotized, as it seems to draw in with an aura of magic. It looks so out of place, it has to be of some importance.

Once you stand over the doll, plunging it in your shadow, you quietly cover your mouth with your shaking hand, wide eyes fixed on the bundle in front of you.

There it lies.

The baby you killed in your dreams.

Bright blue eyes staring accusingly through a haze of red.

Without a sound, without a thought, you back away, until your back silently hits the wall. Now trembling all over, the silence is broken by the noise of your back sliding down until you sit on the floor.

And there you remain, eyes still fixed on the dead child. What little sound there was around you is absorbed into nothing. You can't hear, you can't think, you can only sit there and look at what you've done, the incident from so many years ago suddenly crystal clear in your mind.

Images flowing into each other, sounds fading in and out, long forgotten feelings bubbling to the surface….

"Jaiden! Snap out of it!" A harsh, stinging slap knocks your head sideways, forcing you to tear your eyes away. When you look back, you're staring into the confused and concerned eyes of Kazuma Kuwabara. Behind him stands Kurama, looking equally troubled. You raise a hand to cup your tingling cheek, stunned more by the fact that it's Kuwabara who'd slapped you than the hit itself.

"I'm real sorry about hitting you, but you wouldn't listen! You just sat here staring into space." You nod absently, before getting up on shaking legs. The human supports nearly all your weight with the arm around your shoulder.

"I don't think she was just staring into space, Kuwabara."

You avoid their questioning stares, deciding that offence is the best defense. "Where are the others?"

The intensity of Kurama's answering gaze lets you know that you're not off the hook yet, as Kuwabara answers your question. "Oh, Urameshi got himself knocked unconscious, so Hiei brought him back to Genkai's."

"And we went looking for you."

You ignore him again. "So, we beat the bad guy?"

"Yes, now why don't you tell us what was going on?"

You squirm under the redhead's intense X-ray stare, not quite meeting his eyes. "I was just shocked by seeing a dead kid, you know. And it kind of made me think of that guy I killed…."

"And perhaps it was a shock to see that what happened in your nightmares was real."

With your grip tightening on the arm around your shoulders, you gawk at the fox, a ripple of shock going through your body. "What….How did you….?"

This time, it's Kuwabara who answers, making you turn to him by placing both hands on your upper arms. "Shorty told us about your dreams. We've been discussing the whole situation, your death and the nightmares, with Koenma and he has a theory on what exactly is happening to you."

Scowling, you step back from his grasp, your voice dangerously lowered. "You've been talking about me?"

With a shake of his head, Kurama approaches you, hands outstretched, but you take another step back to stay out of his grasp. "Jaiden, it's not like that- - "

Before he can finish his sentence, you have narrowed your eyes at the both of them and turned on your heel to stomp away.

You don't fully understand the sudden rush of red hot anger, but you give into it anyway. Your mind running a thousand miles per hour. It's not fair of them to talk about something as personal as your own death, not to mention those horrible dreams you've been having, without you in the room. It's private, personal, embarrassing. They could've at least let you listen in or defend yourself.

"Err….Jaiden?"

"WHAT?" You loudly bitch at them from a distance, your shrill voice echoing through the empty streets.

Kuwabara shifts under your withering glare. "I..err….The portal Botan made is this way…." He jerks his thumb over his shoulder.

You blink once, your expression not changing one bit, before stomping past them towards the general direction Kuwabara pointed out, muttering under your breath. Behind you, the two redheads exchange a silent look, before trailing after you.

* * *

"_It's not fair, I tell you! They've pretty much been having cozy tea-parties and discussing everything about me, while I've been left in the dark. The__y even have a theory for God's sake! I hate them. All of them…..Until it's dinner-time, then I won't hate Kurama anymore…."_

From behind your curtain of hair, you direct them with a stubborn glare you picked up from Hiei when you had pushed him into a pond. Lips set in a straight line and eyes narrowed to dangerous, violet slits. Keiko squirms under your attention, clearly uncomfortable with the angry side of you.

When you had arrived at Koenma's castle to find everyone already there, it didn't take you long to figure out that you were the only one oblivious to the 'secret' meetings the guys had to discuss the current situation. You were outraged, ready to lunge at Botan and Keiko and smack them hard for not telling you anything. Girls are supposed to stick together.

They had argued that they didn't want to upset or hurt you and that if they had told you, you would've found a way to come too. Or listen in. And quite possibly disrupt the meetings.

True enough, but still not fair.

The cozy waiting area just around the corner from Koenma's office quickly emptied under the stress of your hateful mood. Kuwabara being the first to leave, followed quickly by Botan and Kurama. Neither gave an explanation.

You sit on the floor, back against the raised window-seat occupied by Hiei, who shows zero signs of being affected by your anger. Upraised knees are hugged to your chest by your arms, chin leaning on them, hair falling in your eyes. Your glare unnervingly fixed on the human girl.

Keiko chooses that moment to jump up and almost run away, Yusuke following on her heels. She clearly couldn't take it anymore.

Instantly, the deep scowl falls from your face, replaced by a pout. The demon seated behind you chuckles darkly. "You made them leave by just looking at them."

"Yeah, you'd wonder where I learned how to scowl like that."

Your voice trails off slightly, when his hand comes to rest on your head, fingers tangling in your hair. Your violet eyes slide closed at the tingling sensations, head slightly dipping forward to give Hiei more room to toy with the strands. After a short caress, his hand tightens almost painfully, startling you, using your hair as leverage to forcefully turn you around to look at him. Instantly your hands cover his, tugging in a panic, determined to make him let go.

"Hiei! That hur- -"

"Listen to me." He commands with a small shake of the hand on your hair, making you gasp in pain. You stop to stare at the demon in front of you, his eyes darkened by an emotion you can't put a name to.

"We only did what we thought was best." Hiei explains slowly, his hand loosening from its punishing grip. You absently pull your head away from his grasp, letting his words sink in. Just as you're about to reply, Kurama walks back into the waiting room.

"Koenma is ready to see us now."

When walking into the office, you make a point to pat Keiko's shoulder as you pass her and to smile gently at Botan. As you sit down in between Yusuke and Kurama, both girls look visibly more relaxed.

"Just for the record, I still don't think it's very nice of you to talk about me behind my back."

"Point taken and dully noted." Koenma mutters under his breath, loud enough for everyone to hear. In front of him lies your file, opened on the most recent entries. You tilt your head to the side and narrow your eyes in effort to read the latest report on your nightmares.

"Right, as we all know, Jaiden has been dreaming rather vividly lately and we suspect that it's a direct result of recent happenings." The small ruler pauses to look at you for a second and you nod at him to continue. He bends his head to read from your file; "The nightmares seem to get worse, from first not affecting Jaiden in the real world at all, to giving her a nosebleed and causing her aura to fluctuate. Botan- -"

"Wait, hang on! My aura did what?"

A comforting hand covers yours. "Your aura fluctuated, you caused an earthquake."

As you gawk silently at Kurama, Koenma takes this opportunity to continue. "Botan investigated this phenomenon and it seems that this only happens when a witch has a very strong dream, a memory about her past life."

"But I was never evil! I never killed those people! If I did, I wouldn't be here. Evil souls don't reincarnate." You thought things would make sense if you listened to their theory, but you get more and more confused with each passing second.

"Yes, and that's why there can be only one conclusion." Koenma pauses to fold his hands on top of your file.

"You were never dead."

* * *

**Prince Elmo:** The funny is nowhere to be seen, but like I have said before, everything in my story happens for a deeper meaning. And sometimes, that means I have to write dark stuff.

And let me just get this one thing across; I do intend to finish this story. I hate it when writers leave a story I love unfinished. I just need to work past my writer's block and find my sparkle again. The sparkle is needed to write crack. To make my point even clearer, I will now quote a random writer, who has gotten what I feel exactly right.

_"I want to write and write, until the uncertainty falls away, until I'm not scared of not making sense, until it feels like I've used up all the words in the English language and need to make up new ones to keep up with my brain. I want to write and write and write, until I no longer hate the words I write."_

Please don't hate me for taking my time and being a perfectionist. I just want to give you the best of me. Be patient.


	14. Jaiden Gets Beaten Up

**Prince Elmo:** I'm almost affraid to update. Yes, I know I'm taking way too much time for this. But I think it's going great again! I actually managed to write quite a lot this afternoon! Let me explain.

I'm moving out into an apartment of my own. It takes time. I didn't know where I wanted the story to go. I didn't know how to continue without delving into the heap of horrible OC clichés. My BETA is also going through a rough patch, so I'm currently doing without motivation, without BETA and without help.

Then, I got a review this afternoon. And several favorites. People still like this story. People are probably still waiting for me to continue.

I thought you guys had given up.

Honestly, I hope I can finish my story now. Because I truly, deeply want to.

* * *

"…..Say what?" You stare dumbly at the Ruler of the Spirit World.

"You were never dead." He says again, face perfectly schooled into a blank expression.

"….Right….And you people just decided to bury me, because it would be such a fun surprise for when I'd wake up?"

Instead of replying to your sarcasm, Koenma wisely ignores the statement and turns to Botan. "Could you please go get it?"

"Yes, sir!" Before you can ask any questions, the Reaper has disappeared through the door to get whatever this 'it' is.

"Jaiden?"

"Huh?" You turn slightly in your seat to look at the redhead sitting next to you, him cupping both your hands in his own. He has also turned in his seat to look you straight in the eye; his face is schooled in a neutral expression, neither concerned nor angry. Much like the same expression Koenma is wearing.

"Please. We really need to know if you've been….forgetting things."

You frown at his careful tone and purposely blank face, before looking around the room with a narrowed gaze. Everyone seems on edge, while no one else quite meets your eye. The mood is tense and suffocating. All of the sudden, you feel like they're treating you as if you'll spontaneously explode any given second.

With your lips pursed in thought, you turn back to Kurama and look at him from the corner of your eyes. After a moment of silence, you ask: "Are you implying that I'm possessed by something?"

His forest green eyes soften at your threatening tone. "We have to know, Jade."

Coldly, you pluck your hands from his grasp and turn forward again, your scowl directed at the wall this time. "Well, for your information, I haven't been forgetting things and I'm not possessed. Mom cast a protective spell on me when I was born to protect me from demon-possession, just like most others of my kind." You spit the last sentence out venomously.

Then, a hand almost as small as yours comes to rest on top of yours. You look up into Keiko's soft brown eyes. "Please understand us, Jaiden. The whole situation is so strange and new to us. We're not used to this. And to top it all off, you've been acting so…Irregular and odd. We're concerned."

"….Err….Yeah….That'd be normal behavior for me…."

She smiles warmly.

"Here we are!"

Immediately your attention is drawn back to Botan, who walks back in carrying a small, wooden box. Your sudden wide eyes never leave the locked box, as the bluenette places it on the desk. The anger and resentment is all immediately forgotten and replaced by mad curiousity. "My ADHD demands that you open that thing right now."

Koenma gives a weird little twitch, before drawing a small silver key out from his drawer. "I was just planning to."

You squeal in excitement, bouncing your entire chair back and forth under the amused gaze of the team. Your freaky mood swings are at least one thing that no longer surprises them. As the lid goes up, you stretch yourself out as much as you can, trying to look inside. Your bright smile falters almost instantly, when the small Ruler draws two things from the small chest and gently places them on his desk, before setting it away.

Even though it was in one piece, alive and sparkling with energy the last time you saw it, it takes you not even a second to recognize the Eye of Corax. The two dull-grey halves lay dead on top of your file. "What….?"

"Back during the fight with Desoria, when you sealed the magic of the Eye with all the power you had in you, you appear to have sealed your own soul within the gem as well. We don't know who exactly did this- " He gestures towards the two halves. "- But we're convinced that he or she released your soul back into your body by destroying this artifact."

You frown at the Ruler. "And no one thought of doing this before, because…?"

He scowls back at you. "You've got to understand that the Eye has a very long, bloody and violent past. All knowledge about its history and powers has been lost in time. We don't know what would've happened if we had destroyed it, so we kept it in one piece."

"So fine, if your guess is right, we've solved the whole 'coming-back-from-the-grave'-thing. But it still doesn't explain those nightmares." Your eyes stray towards the one half on the Eye that still has a loop of silver around it.

"Yes, but Kurama here managed to dig up probably the last remaining information on the Eye and that could explain what's happening to you."

Your gaze switches between Kurama and Koenma, who both stare back at you with those same blank expressions. After a small pause, you roll your eyes at them. "Well?"

Then Koenma reaches into your file and draws out two very worn looking pieces of paper. They're yellowed and burned on the side; looking ready to fall apart any second. On the side you can see, there's small slanted writing in a language you can't understand, but do recognize. After gently placing the fragile paper on the desk, Koenma draws a regular, modern piece of paper out. "Our translators are finally done with the translation. As it turns out, after 2 years of research, these documents have finally been translated- -"

"Get on with it already!"

Koenma clears his throat, before continuing. "Right. This is a small entry in the journal of a fairy princess back in the Silver Dynasty. She mentions a stranger coming into their library seeking knowledge on the origin of the Eye's powers. The way she describes the gem, it's much like it is now; grey and powerless.

Then, a couple of years later, the princess sees it again; the Eye seemed alive with a dark presence and the stranger had vanished. The princess implies that the man was absorbed into the powers of the necklace."

You frown in confusion. "But what does that mean?"

Kurama takes the word now. "It means that when you were locked into the Eye of Corax, you weren't alone. There was already a soul inside, tangling with yours. This person was also released and we believe that when you slept, you received access into his mind."

* * *

The rest of the conversation went by in a blur. The knowledge of being so intimately connected to someone you don't even know gives you the creeps. You roll over onto your other side, trying to catch sleep. Tonight, you slept alone, much to your surprise and annoyance.

You poke your head out from under your blankets suddenly to blink at the ceiling. Now that you think about it, he had been strangely distant the entire evening. It sounds odd, because Hiei is always distant, but he seemed….different tonight. You growl in annoyance at your circular thoughts, punch your pillow and pull the blanket back over your head.

Then you freeze on the spot.

What if he read your mind and found out about Reizo….?

You shake your head to clear it of the thought and tightly close your eyes. _"Shut up! There's nothing to find out! Gonna go to sleep now. Gonna go to sleep now. Gonna go to sleep now. Hiei without a shirt. Gonna go to sleep now…..Eh?"_

Just as you open your eyes and make to get out of bed, it's like someone wrapped a thick, warm blanket around your brain. Your eyes automatically slide back closed and, with a small smile, you eagerly give into the plush sensation of the artificial sleep.

"_Thanks, Hiei….."_

* * *

"SPIRIT GUN!"

A large blast of sky-blue energy forces your damaged body backwards, slamming you mercilessly into the ground. Pain overloads your system, filling your vision with stars, ribs cracking with a sickening sound, hot blood filling your mouth. You cry out in shock and confusion. Eyes are squeezed shut, as you try to comprehend the situation. You wrap your arms around your throbbing torso, rolling onto your side into a fetal position. Hot tears gather in your eyes at the overwhelming pain, spilling over your eyelids and running down your bleeding temple. You gasp desperately for air.

The air shifts again, spirit-energy centering on a point in the distance.

You don't understand.

"Yusuke, stop! I think she's coming around!"

A small eternity later, gentle hands turn you over onto back, your breath hitching in pain. You're guided into a warm embrace, your hands being pried away from where they clutched your chest through your torn t-shirt. A cool hand comes to rest on your hot cheek. "Jaiden?"

You open your eyes at the mention of your name, vision blurred by tears, but you can make out Hiei's face in the darkness. His Jagan-eye glows brightly in the low light, a deep cut running over his left cheek, blood seeping down his jaw-line. Behind him stand Yusuke and Kurama, sporting similar injuries. Your back is against Kuwabara's chest. Then you wince at a new wave of pain and squeeze your eyes closed again. You groan low in your throat.

"Are you okay?"

"I hurt." You manage to gasp out.

"Don't worry, Botan is right here. She'll heal you."

You open your eyes again, to find the blue haired girl staring down at you. She looks apprehensive at touching your battered body, but as soon as she does, all your pain seems to drain right out of your wounds.

Next thing you know, you're sitting up and watching Botan heal the rest of the team. "…..What happened?"

Nobody says a word, all avoiding to meet your eye.

"Oh hell no, not this again! Tell me!"

Hiei turns to you, blood still sluggishly flowing from the wound on his face, yet to be healed, and crosses his arms over his chest. The words that follow shock you to your core; "You tried to kill us."

You go cold and numb all over, your mind shutting down. You sit there quietly, opening and closing your mouth a couple of times. A long silence follows. Before you can decide what to say, Kurama takes the word, his voice warm and caring. "Jaiden, what's the last thing you remember?"

It takes you a couple of seconds to kick-start your brain. You shake your head to collect your thoughts. "Errm…..Lying in bed, not being able to sleep."

Another pause, before: "Anything else?"

A little uneasy at the current conversation, you absently rip out the grass next to your knees, gaze fixed on Hiei's back. "Well, I remember Hiei putting me in one of those dreamless sleeps, but that's it."

You watch, surprised, as every muscle in the fire-demon's back seems to tense, then he shocks you again. "I didn't."

The confusion only seems to mount. "But….It felt like an artificial sleep…Like a spell!"

Kurama, now healed, gently pulls you to your feet. His voice is almost stern. "Jaiden, be reasonable. The fact that you can't remember anything and that you attacked us so fiercely, not to mention the feeling of hypnosis you mention, it all points towards possession. You know this."

Frowning, you cross your arms protectively over your chest and murmur: "But that's not possible…."

Two, large hands are placed onto your shoulders, warming them through your torn t-shirt. You look up into Kuwabara's concerned eyes. "Come on. Let's get you back to bed. We'll have Yukina put up some wards to keep this guy out of your head. Tomorrow, we'll go back to Koenma."

* * *

Someone's watching you. You just know it. Despite your earlier exhaustion from the intense fight your were in and the heavenly softness of your bed, you're pulled from the land of dreams by this annoying, nagging feeling.

"_Aw man! And I was just having this nice dream about Hiei in a hot tub. I'm so slapping the hell out of whatever woke me up!" _With a glare already formed on your face, you slowly open your violet-coloured eyes. As soon as you do so, your groggy mind struggles with the information you receive.

First off, it's dark.

Secondly, there's a menacing shadow sitting on the edge of your bed.

"_Wait...Huh?"_

After a five second pause, you gasp sharply and lurch over to the other side of the bed to reach your Hello Kitty nightlight. You smack it hysterically, until it pops back on again, transforming all dark shadows and sharp corners into a plush, orangey dreamland.

"Be gone, evil Japanese spirit ghost thingy! No darkness can survive the holy shininess of my nightlight!"

"Woman, what are you talking about?"

While still laying on your stomach the way you landed, you turn your head towards the familiar voice. You blink stupidly as Hiei looks back at you, sitting on the spot where the creepy ghost just sat.

"_A very shirtless Hiei...Yum..."_

Your wild dive for your nightlight has revealed your legs to the demon. The t-shirt you're wearing bunched up around your hips, revealing just a hint of your hot pink underwear. He shows no reservations in taking advantage of your position, his eyes roaming the pale skin of your thighs.

"I thought you were a scary, vengeful ghost who had come to kill me in some kind of horrible way." You explain in a soft, almost casual voice, pretending to not notice his stare or the way it send shivers up your spine. The smirk on his face lets you know that your light blush has betrayed your innocent act, when his eyes meet yours.

"Idiot." Somehow, his insult lacks its usual sting.

You laugh. "Yeah, but you still love me right?" You make a weird face to put emphasize on the fact that you're only joking. As Hiei turns his back to you again, your bright smile slowly fades from your features.

"_There's something wrong."_ You think quietly to yourself, while folding your legs underneath your bum. The room is bathing in the soft yellow glow of your nightlight, making everything soft and rounding all sharp edges.

You tip your head to the side, studying Hiei's back. The muscles of his shoulders and the strength that radiates from them. Every dip, every curve and the shadows contouring them. Years and years of training have been etched into his skin. There's not a mark on his body, but you know there have been wounds. Invisible ones. The scars of everything he had to face in the past. You never really thought about it, but his life is difficult.

Complicated.

And he has to do it all by himself.

The slide of his soft skin against yours feels incredible, your arms wrapping around his strong shoulders. Even after every hug you've given him, he still tenses for a moment, before relaxing. You press a soft kiss to the skin behind his ear, before leaning your chin on his shoulder.

Touching Hiei's naked skin creates a paradox of feelings. The muscles in his back are as solid as they look, your pliant body moulding to their shapes, but the skin against yours is the softest and smoothest you've ever felt.

The two of you sit there for a small eternity. The length of your torso pressed against his warm back. The silence in the air is light and for once, you're not the one who feels the need to break the quiet.

"Aren't you going to ask what's wrong?"

"No. I'm just going to sit here."

"Hn."

You turn your head to take in his features. His face seems so soft and innocent in this soft yellow light, seemingly content, but his eyes betray everything. There's something going on behind that vibrant red, but it's veiled and hidden from your view.

"You really are a difficult guy to figure out."

His muscles underneath your grip tense for a moment, another thing to puzzle you. Such a big reaction from such a stoic guy. You turn your gaze away from his face, as you softly begin to talk.

"You know...I'm actually a very simple person. Things just are the way they are and I don't feel like complicating everything." You shift against Hiei's back, a little uncomfortable with sharing this. "The crazy person who I portray is the person who I am, there isn't much more to me and I'm fine with that. In the past people have made me feel like that wasn't enough."

When you turn back to his face, you notice that you have his undivided attention. His eyes directing you with an x-ray vision you thought only Kurama was capable of. "You, on the other hand, are very complicated. You operate according to an honour code I don't understand. I'll probably never figure you out! But that's okay. Because I feel that 'just me' is enough when I'm around you..."

You shift uncomfortably under his piercing gaze, as the fire apparition studies your face. Unable to meet his stare, you direct your line of vision towards the wooden floor, the ceiling, everywhere but Hiei. Chewing the inside of your cheek, you nervously wait for the verdict. After what seems like forever, the demon pulls away from your hug.

* * *

**Prince Elmo:** The next chapter will be a good chapter. (wink)

Please leave a review and tell me you don't hate my guts! This chapter is near 3,000 words long! And it has shirtless Hiei in it! That you get to grope! I don't want to be hated. D:


	15. The Window Has Been Nailed Shut

**Prince Elmo: **Ladies, this is the one you've been waiting for.

**Jaiden: Unolai owns only her OC. She makes no profit off of this story.**

**

* * *

**

Your heart plummets into the pit of your stomach and you're just about to start bawling like a five-year-old, when you realise that Hiei isn't walking away. He merely pulled away from your hug to turn around. Your attention is drawn down towards his lap, where he appears to be looking for something in his pocket. (Author: Not THAT, you perv! We'll get to that later.) When his hand comes back into view, your face lightens up with the intensity of a thousand suns.

"Ooooh, shiny! Pretty shiny! Can I see?"

Hiei reaches forward, his arms around your neck as he fastens what appears to be a necklace at the back. A warm gem now resting on your chest, right in between your breasts. "It's yours." Comes the reply, as he draws back slowly, his touch lingering on your shoulders.

You gently trace the necklace with your fingers, but in the low light you can't get a good view. After directing the demon with the brightest smile you can manage, you jump from the bed and run over to flip on the light. Standing in front of your mirror, you take a good look at Hiei's gift.

It's a very simple necklace, made of regular, black string. On the end is a small, dark gem set in silver. It's perfectly round and it looks somewhat familiar as you study it some more. You look at Hiei's reflection in the mirror, as he comes to stand behind you. "Isn't this a teargem?" At his nod, you smile again and lean heavily back against him. He supports your weight easily, hands coming to rest lightly on your hips.

Teargems are rare and very expensive. You know all about them, thanks to a certain ice maiden. _"He must've asked Yukina for one. That's so sweet!"_

"This isn't Yukina's."

You turn in your mock-embrace, a little surprised at this news. "Well, I hope you didn't buy it for me! It's so expensive, I'm afraid to wear it. What if I lose it?"

When you feel the demon asking for permission into your mind, you hesitantly let him in, your eyebrows knitting together in a frown. His current behaviour confuses you. As soon as you let down your guard, you're bombarded with three different scenesso suddenly, it sends you reeling in shock.

_"Hiei finding out about your missing soul. His confusion and despair."_

_"That same Hiei destroying the Eye with a simple swing of his katana. His rage, overwhelming."_

_"One teargem rolling over a stone floor, coming to a stop next to one half of the Eye."_

The intensity of these sensations, images and feelings hit you like a ton of bricks, sending a wave of dizziness crashing over you. You don't realise you're moving backwards, until your back hits the cool surface of the mirror. The sudden cold startles out of your daze; you look at the man in front of you as if you're seeing him for the first time.

It's hard to imagine that the cold-hearted firedemon lost control of his emotions like that, but at the same time it fits him. It's just another layer to his complicated personality. It's another depth to the deep red eyes that are currently regarding you with masked disappointment.

"_Wait...Disappointment?"_ Your eyes widen dramatically, both from surprise and the realisation that you could interpret the veiled emotion in Hiei's eyes._ "He thinks I'm rejecting him, while I've been scared of him rejecting me..."_

Where this sudden insight comes you, you don't know. All you know is that this moment doesn't leave room for stupid mistakes or equally stupid jokes. Without a second thought, you lunge at the firedemon, arms wrapping tightly around him and sending him stumbling backwards a few steps. You press your closed eyes to the side of his warm neck. "I love it! The necklace, it's beautiful! I love it." After a moment, you loosen your grip to stare at the centre of his chest as your cheeks feel like they caught fire.

"And I...I love you..." You softly admit with a shaking voice, before shyly raising your eyes to his.

No sooner does your breath hitch at the sight of his smouldering gaze, then his mouth is on yours. Heated, demanding and greedy. Arms wrapping around his neck, you press closer to the addictive warmth he radiates. His hand trails from your lower back, over your bum and down the back of your thigh to hike up the t-shirt you're wearing. The shock of his bare, rough hands on your skin has you gasping, breaking the kiss. You manage to catch his attention by slightly pulling back out of the embrace.

"Before we go any further, I need you to know something." You pause and sigh deeply. "...I nailed that window shut..." You jerk your thumb over to the only window, where the evidence of your hard work still sticks crookedly out of the wood. His hand stop in their movement, leaving a warm hand-shaped spot on your behind and deep red eyes quietly flick over to witness your effort, before focusing back on you.

The grin that follows is so predatory, so lecherous, it has you briefly wondering what you've gotten yourself into.

"...I've just unleashed the beast, haven't I...?"

With his heated gaze still on yours, the other hand also find its way under your shirt to rest high on you naked waist. Your eyelids flutter at the tingly sensations as his thumb brushes the underside of your breast, but you don't break eye contact. Instead, you grab this opportunity to map out the planes of his chest with the tips of your fingers. With long sweeps of your hand, taking your time, you slowly familiarize yourself with every dip and curve of the smooth muscles.

You smile at his sharp intake of breath, when you ghost your hand over a nipple. He stops you in your seemingly innocent exploration, by tugging your shirt up and over your head. The demon doesn't even wait for you to pull your head free, before gently cupping both breasts in his battle-roughened hands. You moan deeply, your back instantly arching into his teasing, feather-light touch, your hands find their way to his broad shoulders. With every soft caress of his fingers, your need for this one man skyrockets and you find yourself wanting him badly.

The air in the room seems to get hotter and thicker with each passing second. When his lips trace the curve of your neck, before sharply nipping your earlobe, you moan his name in a pleading tone. His hands abandon your tingling breasts, drawing a groan of disappointment, only skim the skin of your waist around to your bum. In a sudden move, Hiei grips your behind and lifts you clear off the ground. You gasp in surprise, quickly wrapping your legs around his narrow hips to steady yourself. As result, your heated centre is pressed tight against his erection, giving you the delicious pressure you need so much. You mewl in delight, bucking your hips against his. At his responding groan, a wave of hot arousal washes over you, sending your head spinning. He feels so good.

His hands on your rear to keep you up, he wastes no time in getting you on the bed. The second your back hits the mattress, his lips are on you, teeth tugging at your aching nipples, tongue flicking back and forth, hand cupping the other. Never before have you felt such sudden need for someone. You writhe under his hand, back arching, your hips moving on their own as your legs tighten to pull him closer.

Hiei's hands trail down your body, only to pause teasingly on your hip. At your pleading whine, he hooks a finger under the soaked garment and tears it away. His hips press close to yours in a deep, hypnotic grind, sending wave after wave of pleasure surging through your system, his erection clear through the fabric of his pants.

You gasp in disappointment, when he suddenly pulls back, your entire body covered in goose bumps, breath coming out in pants. Then his fingers slip past your folds, soothing the terrible ache and you can only buck your hips and squirm desperately against his hand. Starbursts erupt in your vision as his thumb presses down on your clit. "Hiei!"

Before you even know what you're doing, your trembling hands are on Hiei's belts, tugging viciously. The motions of his hand make it so hard to concentrate, but one by one do the belt come loose and you forcefully push the pants off his hips, where he kicks them off. With one last stroke of his fingers, he leans his forearm on the mattress next to your head. His lips abandon your neck to capture your gaze in a dead stare.

Your eyes are slanted, deepened in lust to the colour of plums. Your cheeks are flushed, hair sticking to your forehead and neck. All you can think about is how much you need him inside you. The head of his cock presses into your wet folds and against your throbbing clit, before moving down to your entrance where he pauses again. With eyes still on him, you tip your head backwards in surrender and tighten your legs around his hips, giving him silent permission to take what he wants.

And that he does. In one deep, merciless thrust, he is inside you. Your vaginal walls ripple in shock, back arching, mouth opening in a silent scream. Instead of feeling agonising pain like you expected, you only feel a slight burn and the overwhelming sensation of being filled. Hiei pulls out, only to slam back in, you cry out in pleasure. Soon, he has set a deep, relentless pace that rocks the entire bed and that leaves you gasping for air, moaning his name.

You clutch at the covers that stick against your back, hips bucking almost aggressively against Hiei's, meeting his every hard, demanding thrust. Taking advantage of your exposed throat, he feasts on your skin with licks and sharp nips, focusing on the spot where your pulse beats a wild rhythm under your skin. Never slowing or faltering in his pace.

"Hiei..." You moan in a low, sultry voice you would never recognise as your own, your climax fast approaching. Your hands switch to clutch Hiei's backside desperately, encouraging him to quicken his rhythm. He relents, teeth raking over the side of your neck, hips snapping forward with every vicious thrust.

Just as your climax rushes over you, and you shiver in pleasure, he lunges forward to sink his teeth mercilessly in your neck, your sweet blood rushing into his mouth. All at once, you scream in a delicious mixture of pain and pleasure, stars explode in your vision, your fingernails sink into his shoulders, your back arches, pushing you into Hiei's hard, muscled body. With him still pushing in and out of you, it seems to go on forever, but eventually, you sag bonelessly back onto the bed. Your breath leaving you in a rush.

With a very possessive growl around the flesh in his mouth, Hiei follows you in climax, before shuddering and collapsing on top of you. The weight of him is hot and suffocating, but strangely comforting. You hold him to yourself, one hand on the back of his head that he rests in the crook of your throbbing shoulder, the other arm around his waist. His laboured breath is hot on your neck and you shiver. In that moment of peace and silence, you try to wrap your mind around what you've just done, before deciding that it can't hurt to rest your eyes just for a second.

Next thing you know, you're laying on your side, facing Hiei's chest as he gently licks the blood off the side of your neck. Every scrape of his tongue sending shivers up and down your spine. You feel him smirk against your skin, as you scoot close and almost casually drape a leg over his naked hip. His hand comes to rest on your hip in response. The two of you continue to lie there in comfortable silence, until you get the irresistible urge to break it, of course.

"So...I guess you're going to be good to me from now on, huh?"

"Hn."

"Hey, you have to. I have perfect leverage now! Be nice or no sexy time."

* * *

**Prince Elmo:** Well, there you go! Hope it's everything you dreamed of. I personally don't like this chapter one bit.

**Jaiden:** (fans self) I LOVED IT!

**Prince Elmo:** I think it's the worst smut in the history of mankind. The only thing I could've done to make it worse, was if I had written: "And then they played horizontal Pokey Pokey. The End."

**Jaiden:** Well, at least that would've been funny. 8D


	16. Everything Happens For A Reason

**Prince Elmo:** Yeah yeah, I know. I should update faster. I can't, okay? Shut up and read.

**Jin:** No own, no sue!

* * *

Birds are singing a particular annoying song right under your bedroom window, pulling you from your precious sleep. With a yawn, you roll over sluggishly and stretch like a cat. You freeze almost immediately; The feel of the covers against your skin is heavenly. Against _all_ of your skin.

"_When did I…..Ooohhh!"_

There is no stopping to your stupid, furious blush at the mental images that pop up at the memory of last night. The foreign kind of ache between your legs gives a faint throb, eliminating all thoughts of it being just a dream from your mind.

There is no way around it; your cherry has officially been popped.

You can still smell him all around you. On the sheets and on your skin. You roll over with a lecherous grin gracing your face, determined to wake the demon up and demand a round two.

But then you realize you're all alone in your bed.

Outside your room, Keiko doesn't think twice at running like mad at your high-pitched, frustrated scream; "YOU'VE GOT TO BE FUCKING KIDDING ME!"

Angrily, you toss the covers away with more force than necessary."If he thinks that he can screw around like that, he's got another thing coming!" You rant loudly to yourself.

You swing your legs over the edge of the bed, plant them on the ground and roughly push yourself to a stand. Only to squeal at the sudden stab of pain that shoots from your center and up your spine, causing your legs to instantly buckle underneath you. With a loud thud, you end up on the ground, clutching your groin and gasping for air.

"He broke me! The bastard broke me!"

* * *

After your rather ungraceful fall out of bed, it had taken you quite a while to crawl to the bathroom and take a hot shower. The pain slowly melted away with the hot water, replaced by a weird, dull kind of ache. You figure it's normal.

"_Wise lesson of today: Sleeping with Hiei is like getting mauled by a bear. Must act like nothing is wrong."_

You happily bounce into the kitchen, greeting Kurama with a sloppy wet kiss on the cheek -"Good morning!"- before tearing all of the cabinets open in search of cereal.

He smiles at the warm greeting. "Well, you certainly seem to be in a good mood, despite yesterday."

With an answering smile, you nervously tug at the black choker around your neck. "Oh you know, I just decided to not let it get me down!"

You turn your attention back to the cabinets and jump up to try to grab the Fruit Loops, instead of grabbing a stool like a sane person would. Kurama's pale hand easily grabs the box you were desperately reaching for; his larger frame brushing up against yours.

You turn to thank him, but before you can: "Jaiden, what's that on your neck?"

You blink in confusion. "…..What? Oh! No, don't- -"

But before you can stop the redhead, he has already pulled down the choker to reveal the obvious, angry-red bite mark on the side of your throat. Instantly, Kurama snatches his hand back as if he's burned, jumping backwards in surprise to collide with the kitchen table, knocking the milk carton over. The soft dripping of spilt milk fills the silence, as the fox only stares at you. The look on his face can only be described as horrified surprise.

It's insulting.

"What the hell is wrong with you? I know you can smell sex on me and you could've guessed that Hiei is a biter!" You bitch at him.

After clearing his throat and tearing his eyes away from the wound, he calmly begins to explain the various ways for demons to mark a mate. "Some kinds, of which fire demons, mark their mates by biting them in the neck or shoulders….It's a rather strong, deep running way of binding two people."

You can clearly feel the color draining from your face, your lips going numb. "But wait, shouldn't I have bitten him back or something? It works both ways, right?"

Kurama gives a twitchy, sort of little smile. "You already did."

_*FLAAAAAASHBAAAAAAACK*_

_You pull your bloody ankle from the now shriveled, thorny vine. Ignoring the burning pain in both your ankle and your chest, you clumsily stumble to your feet._

_That pain seems like nothing as you double over someone's fist in your stomach. Ruby eyes meet yours and you pull Hiei close to sink your teeth into his upper arm._

_*End of *_

"So….I'm stuck with him?"

He chuckles. "Yes, I'm afraid you are."

You sit down heavily on one of the kitchen chairs, your head spinning with the new information. "….So, I marked Hiei as my mate, only a few hours after I met him?"

Amusement shines in his green eyes. "Yes, I'm afraid you did."

One small glance at Kurama has you bursting out into giggles. "So, all of his anger, the way he treated me at first, all the crap he put me through…It's all a response to me marking him as my mate?"

He nods his head.

You stare at the kitchen floor with an absent smile on your face, going over all the times that Hiei's behavior seemed out of whack. It really makes sense now. It also instills a nagging sense of worry in the pit of your stomach. Your smile melts away, thoughts turn circular, spinning in a circle around one central sentence;

"_He's with me, because he has no other choice."_

Out of nowhere, you smack Kurama upside the head as hard as you can. "You knew this all along and you didn't tell me?"

"Tell you what?"

You freeze at the sound of Kuwabara's voice and turn slowly in your seat to stare wide-eyed at the newcomers. (The firedemon in question conveniently missing.) Kurama proves little help in filling the awkward silence, as he stares at you in wonder of what you'll do now.

"Errr….That….The…Pythagoras formula is used to find the distance between two points in the Cartesian coordinate plane, and is valid if all coordinates are real." You ramble in one breath.

After a ten second pause, in which the whole room just stares back at you like your head is on fire, Yusuke mutters: "Be careful with what you teach her Kurama; you might make her brains spontaneously self combust."

"Has anyone ever told you that you sound so incredibly intelligent when using a word with more than two syllables?"

"Do we pay you extra for all that sarcasm?"

"No, it's just one of the many fabulous services I offer."

Botan laughs before sitting down next to Kurama, who's busy mopping up the spilt milk. "It's nice to see you're in such a good mood, Jaiden. You're not much fun when angry."

With agreeing mumbles, the rest settles into a seat and help themselves to breakfast. You smile at them, your own little posse, before digging into your now soggy breakfast.

Finishing in record time, you take the opportunity to stare at your housemates. They're acting normal, relaxed, like nothing happened. And you can tell that it's real, nothing forced or fake. You smile affectionately, thankful that they're not wanting to talk about it or ask questions.

You just don't feel like talking about it.

After tossing your dirty bowl and spoon into the washer, you bounce up to Kurama's seat and forcefully hug his face into your bosom. "Thank you for this lovely breakfast, my dear!"

Muffled, from below: "Jaiden, you had cereal."

"All the same; Thank you!" You release the redhead from your death grip. "Well, see you guys later!"

You twirl and skip through the open French doors, but stumble at the sudden uproar behind you; chairs falling over, screams of your name, a glass smashing on the floor, several dull thuds.

Turning on the spot, you frown at the pile of people, who obviously tripped over each other in effort to get to you and who are staring at you in horror. "What?"

Kurama is the first to come to his senses. He blinks and swallows, before asking: "Are you okay?"

You shift your weight to one foot and prop your fist on one hip. "What? Don't I look okay?"

A collective sigh sounds out from the pile, before they each pick themselves off the floor. Keiko dusts herself off, before frowning at you.

"What?"

The human girl answers: "We asked Yukina to put up more wards to protect you from whatever is threatening you. They seem to have worked so far."

"….Yeah, so?"

She squirms and stays quiet, so Kurama takes to word, approaching you as he does. "These kind of wards only work on buildings, not on specific people."

You can only stare blankly at him.

"Jaiden, it would be best if you stayed in the house from now on." Kurama lays his hand on your shoulder.

You give yourself a second to consider this, before rolling your eyes and sighing. "Whatever makes you feel better, hun. So, for how many minutes do you want me to go along with this nonsense?"

He clears his throat. "What I mean to say is that it's better to stay indoors at all times. It's not safe for you anymore."

You stare at the redhead as if he just grew a second head. "What do you mean 'at all times'?" You shriek, the crowd behind Kurama wincing at your tone of voice.

He gives you a sympathetic smile. "I know that it's hard for you, but it really is safer if you'd stay inside. Just until we know who or what is after you."

"There are easier ways of bringing pain into my life, you know. Like letting me poke Hiei in his Jagan eye with a stick." You snarl at him, before stomping back into the house.

* * *

**Prince Elmo:** Pop quiz: What does an ADD positive witch do when convined to a single building? And what do you think of the whole "Marking Hiei as your mate within hours of meeting him"?

The next chapter might take a while, but you people are used to that by now.


	17. Note

I am –so- ashamed to show my face here. This is ridiculous!

Today, I got several messages in my email that someone has been reading and favouriting my stories. This happens occasionally. Normally, I'd cringe at the thought of my last update (not that I can properly remember it) and hastily remove the email. Pretend that my stories don't excist, so I don't feel bad for not continueing.

But not today.

I suddenly remembered what it was like to finally find a story you got hooked on, only to discover that it has been abandoned. That feeling like your favourite tv show just got canceled. Like you just finished your last bit of Ben & Jerry's.

Unacceptable!

A lot has changed for me since I began the Something Wicked series. I moved out of my parents' home, got a boyfriend, started a new education and a new workplace. I'm freaking busy right now! But that doesn't take away from that itching feeling I get when re-reading my old stories. I remember how much fun I had writing them and how delighting it was to see others enjoy them with me. I truly feel bad for making you all wait.

There is no inspiration for me at this time, but I promise you; this story is not over. Jaiden hasn't had the last word yet. I –will- finish this.

All I ask is your patience. I want to finish this story in a way that I can be proud of. You deserve a quality story! I'm affraid that if I force my writing, it will come out half-assed. And that's just no deal for me.

So here it is. My promise to you, my readers who have been so patiently waiting. Please wait some more. I know it's been forever, but it will be better!

May the insanity be with you.


End file.
